Quaker Oats Caught In Lawsuit Controversy As Families Demand Compensation

The Aunt Jemima product line of pancake mix is over a century old, debuting in 1889, according to the official Quaker Oats website. The historical timeline for this age-old pantry staple describes how Nancy Green was hired to be the Aunt Jemima brand spokeswoman in 1890 by R.T. Davis, who purchased the Aunt Jemima company before selling it to Quaker Oats. Green’s descendants have filed a lawsuit against Quaker Oats for punitive damages and compensation from the company’s profits.

However, Green’s family is actually the second one to come forward with legal action against Quaker Oats. They join the descendants of Anna Short Harrington in the lawsuit. Harrington is the central focus of author John McQueen’s book, The Story of Aunt Jemima, which describes how “sponsors paid Mrs. Harrington good money for traveling around the nation making personal appearances as Aunt Jemima.”

Both families claim that they are entitled to $2 billion and a portion of future revenues from Quaker Oats, due to their ancestors’ impact on the Aunt Jemima Brand. D.W. Hunter alleges that Quaker Oats denied that his great grandmother, Harrington, was an employee of the company. Hunter claims that his ancestor contributed her recipes to the company but did not receive compensation. According to the Chicago Tribune, Harrington’s family claims that her death certificate identifies Quaker Oats as her employer. The lawsuit also claims that the likeness of Harrington’s daughter was used to market future Aunt Jemima products.

A Quaker Oats spokesperson stated, “People associate the Aunt Jemima brand with warmth, hospitality and comfort, and we stand by this heritage as well as the ways in which we do business,” according to Fortune Magazine.

However, the lawsuits dig up historical social tensions. Within Hunter’s lawsuit are allegations of racial discrimination against the women who portrayed Aunt Jemima for years. “Aunt Jemima has become known as one of the most exploited and abused women in American history,” stated Hunter.

Indeed, Quaker Oats seems to have a recorded history of hiring women to depict Aunt Jemima in public relations efforts. According to their own timeline, “Aylene Lewis was hired to portray Aunt Jemima at the Aunt Jemima restaurant in the newly opened Disneyland.” They also describe hiring a woman named Anna Robinson after mentioning that “advertising planners decided to bring the Aunt Jemima character back to life.”

The depiction of Aunt Jemima has transformed over the past century. Originally, she wore an apron and a kerchief on her head. However, social critics felt that this image was too close to the “mammy” stereotype, hearkening back to the days of slavery in the United States. However, the modern logo depicts Jemima without a kerchief. Dr. David Pilgrim at Ferris State University describes the transformation of the logo, stating “In recent years, Aunt Jemima has been given a makeover… she now has the appearance of an attractive maid – not a Jim Crow era mammy.”

So far, Quaker Oats has not released an official statement on the litigation process.