so it's been a while...

First off, I apologize for not being as active on this blog this summer as I should have been. But now that school is around the corner, I am feeling the crunch!

I want to talk a little bit about Aunt Jemima. The lovable woman on the pancake box that we have grown to love. Many people do not know that Aunt Jemima was not a real person- the famous instant pancake recipe was created by two white men- Chris Rutt and Charles Underwood- in a scientific lab. Nancy Green, a black woman born into slavery, as hired in 1890 to play the role of Aunt Jemima. The name came from a famous minstrel song at the time. Ms Green traveled to different world fairs, playing the role of the lovable mammy character, reminding her all-white crowds of the "good-ole days" when Mammy so-and-so would make them pancakes and biscuits and scrambled eggs and fried chicken and collards and ooh-whee, gotta love that Southern livin! But surely black female slaves did not all fit this mammy stereotype- Mammy, and Aunt Jemima, is a work of fiction. She is a false creation in white America's memory, one that allows white America to justify slavery on the basis that not only did blacks like being enslaved, but that they were treated like family! Like a mother or an aunt, even!

America has a strange love affair with the black female body. It only makes sense that America soon began to "consume" the Mammy caricature. If I was at home, I would quote bell hooks' article "eating the other: desire or resistance", but unfortunately, I left my copy of Black Looks at home. But what I will say is that I came across a disturbing video on youtube that I would like to share with you. It was entitled, "Hey Aunt Jemima" and is a spoof of "Hey There Delilah" by the Plain White Tees. It seems harmless at first, if not plain stupid- a white man sings his love to a bottle of Aunt Jemima pancake syrup. But the way that he sexualizes the syrup, coupled with America's history of Mammy-lovin leaves a nasty taste in mouth. For example, one of the lyrics goes:

hey aunt jemima why dont i go make some pancakes or would you prefer i turn you over just give you a spanking let me know i know my wife thinks you're a ho, dont let me go

He also goes to say:

Jemima you are family, like an aunt you've been to me

I don't even know where I'm going with this post anymore, so I will let you watch the video for yourselves. Imagine that he is actually singing to a black woman named Aunt Jemima. It changes the video's context a bit, doesn't it?



*EDIT: Also, I got a lot of my Aunt Jemima facts from this website:


And also the book Clinging to Mammy: The Faithful Slave in Twentieth-Century America by Micki McElya

This is how I feel about what I study.

"Black Mother Woman"

I cannot recall you gentle
yet through your heavy love
I have become
an image of your once delicate flesh
split with deceitful longings.

When strangers come and compliment me
your aged spirit takes a bow
jingling with pride
but once you hid that secret
in the center of furies
hanging me
with deep breasts and wiry hair
with your own split flesh
and long suffering eyes
buried in myths of little worth.

But I have peeled away your anger
down to the core of love
and look mother
I Am
a dark temple where your true spirit rises
beautiful
and tough as chestnut
stanchion against your nightmare of weakness
and if my eyes conceal
a squadron of conflicting rebellions
I learned from you
to define myself
through your denials.

- Audre Lorde

TOPSY

Another character, one of the pickaninny chorus members. Here are some pictures, for thought:

Liberation of Aunt Jemima

Ironically enough, months after I had named my Div II " The (Sexual) Liberation of Mammy, Pt 1", I found out about artist Betye Saar. Saar was an artist whose work helped influence the Black Arts Movement in the 1970s. In 1972, she created a piece that she entitled, "The Liberation of Aunt Jemima". Her goals were similar to mine, and I have gained an immense amount of inspiration from her "liberation" pieces.



Note how she puts a gun in mammy's hand, along with the broom. There is also a black fist in the framed picture. The broom and gun in Mammy's hand are an homage to the famous picture of Huey Newton, one of the leaders of the Black Panthers Party:




Saar has done many other powerful pieces that play on black memorabilia and black liberation. This piece is entitled Sambo:



There is also a gun in the top part of the banjo case. But there are also little hanging men. It seems to be simultaneously talking about the lynching of black men and the dancing minstrel, who seems almost like a puppet here. The watermelon slice, of course, is representative of black stereotypes.

kara walker

..deserves a much longer post. we will get back to her. but this image has stuck with me throughout my time at hampshire. i often reference this image when creating my own work.



I often question whether or not positive black image is possible. And Kara makes a point. The way that "positive black image" stands today, it is a contradiction in terms. And we didn't create the images that exist for us today. I want to remember to ask myself "what is positive black image" and more importantly, "is that my goal?" I'm not quite sure if my goal is to make something positive. I know that I want to "destroy the negative", if that's even possible. I guess I am hoping to instill a sense of urgency in the crowd, so that they can feel the need to create the positive image together.. hmm. Definitely feeling that sense of urgency. Don't wanna lose that.

Staging Idea

This blog post is really directed towards Najee.

So, we've been talking about a barn for the stage. But... I've been thinking. What about a TV set instead? Here's my reasoning behind it:

- This is a minstrel show, yes. But it is not just a minstrel show for comedy's sake. Instead it is a minstrel show that is making a commentary on the creation of the black image through white american media (and therefore the white american gaze- think of the people sitting in front of the tv screen, not just the people behind the scenes). That being said, it might be better to choose a set that will ultimately help us make commentary, rather than mimic the minstrel show.

- It can represent how as Black americans, we feel literally feel "boxed in" to these roles.

- Going back to the point about the audience... I feel that by putting people in front of a TV screen, I will be doing a few things. 1)putting the necessary amount of distance between the audience and the actors, in order for them to feel "comfortable" enough to buy into the world of the play while STILL engaging 2)giving them the choice to either be consumers or not to 3) setting up the fact that we eventually have to BREAK the tv, destroy media as it stands today

- This can help us tie in the cool visuals we were talking about. For example, the shadow puppet part I was talking about? We can have a scrim that comes down in between the set and the TV box for this. It can also help with the Zip Coon's "reveal". We can also have commercials!

- It will look really fucking cool. I'm thinking, when people enter the mainstage, there be a wall of TVs with old minstrel shows, the Censored Eleven, and other racist media clips on these tvs. Or on the side of the stage..?


Okay, yes! I am excited about this TV idea! I think this is the lead-in to the writing process that I wanted. More updates soon.

if you've got an hour or so to spare...

...then this is a good video to watch. It's a UC Berkeley lecture on the history of blackface that I stumbled upon one day. It gives some basic history. Enjoy: