Mammy stereotype
A mammy is a U.S. historical stereotype depicting Black women, usually enslaved, who did domestic work, including nursing children. The fictionalized mammy character is often visualized as a dark-skinned woman with a motherly personality. The origin of the mammy figure stereotype is rooted in the history of slavery in the United States, as enslaved women were often tasked with domestic and childcare work in American slave-holding households. The mammy caricature was used to create a narrative of Black women being content within the institution of slavery among domestic servitude. The mammy stereotype associates Black women with domestic roles, and it has been argued that it, alongside segregation and discrimination, limited job opportunities for Black women during the Jim Crow era.
History
The mammy caricature was first seen in the 1830s in Antebellum pro-slavery literature, as a form to oppose the description of slavery given by abolitionists. One of the earliest fictionalized versions of the mammy figure is Aunt Chloe in Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, first published in 1852.Some scholars see the mammy figure as rooted in the history of slavery in the United States. Enslaved African American women were tasked with the duties of domestic workers in white American households. Their duties included preparing meals, cleaning homes, and nursing and rearing their enslavers' children. Out of these circumstances arose the image of the mammy.
Segregation era and National Mall monument
While originating in the slavery period, the mammy figure rose to prominence during the Reconstruction Era. Scholars may argue that the Southern United States has the mammy role serve as historical revisionism in efforts to reinterpret and legitimize the legacy of chattel slavery among racial oppression. The mammy image became especially prominent in the era of racial segregation and continues to be reproduced, as it persisted into the 21st century.In 1923, the United Daughters of the Confederacy proposed the erection of a mammy statue on the National Mall. The proposed statue would have been dedicated to "The Black Mammy of the South". The bill received a standing ovation in the Senate, where it passed with bipartisan consensus, but died in committee in the House following written protests from thousands of Black women.
Historical criticism
The historicity of the mammy figure is questionable. Historical accounts point to the identity of most female domestic servants as teenagers and young adults, not "grandmotherly types" such as the mammy. Melissa Harris-Perry has argued that the mammy was a creation of the imagination of the white supremacy, which reimagined the powerless, coerced slave girls as soothing, comfortable, and consenting women. This contradicts other historically accurate accounts of enslaved women fearing for their lives at the hands of abusive masters. In 1981, Andy Warhol included the mammy in his Myths series, alongside other mythological and folklore characters such as Santa Claus, Mickey Mouse, and Superman.In Mammy: A Century of Race, Gender, and Southern Memory, Kimberly Wallace-Sanders argued that the mammy's stereotypical attributes point to the source of her inspiration: "a long lasting and troubled marriage of racial and gender essentialism, mythology, and southern nostalgia."
The romanticized mammy image survives in the popular imagination of the modern United States. Psychologist Chanequa Walker-Barnes argues that political correctness has led to the mammy figure being less prevalent in the 21st-century culture, but the mammy archetype still influences the portrayal of African-American women in fiction, as good caretakers, nurturing, selfless, strong, and supportive, the supporting characters to white protagonists. She cites as examples Miranda Bailey, Mercedes Jones, and Ivy Wentz.
Fictional characteristics
The mammy is usually portrayed as an older woman, overweight, and dark skinned. She is an idealized figure of a caregiver: amiable, loyal, maternal, non-threatening, obedient, and submissive. The mammy figure demonstrates deference to white authority. On occasion, the mammy is also depicted as a sassy woman. She is devoted to her enslavers/employers and her primary goal in life is to care for their needs. In some portrayals, the mammy has a family of her own. But her caregiving duties always come first, leading to the mammy being portrayed as a neglectful parent or grandparent. And while the mammy is devoted to her white family, she often treats her own family poorly. Moreover, she has no black friends.Melissa Harris-Perry describes the relationship between the mammy and other African Americans in Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America by summarizing that "Mammy was not a protector or defender of black children or communities. She represented a maternal ideal, but not in caring for her own children. Her love, doting, advice, correction, and supervision were reserved exclusively for white women and children."
This stereotype contrasts with the Jezebel stereotype, which depicts younger African-American women as conniving and promiscuous. The mammy is occasionally depicted as a religious woman. More often than not, the mammy is an asexual figure, "devoid of any personal desires that might tempt her to sin". This helps the mammy serve as both a confidante and a moral guide to her young charges, capable of keeping them in line.
Kimberly Wallace-Sanders includes other characteristics of the mammy in Mammy: A Century of Race, Gender, and Southern Memory : A large dark body, a round smiling face, a deeply sonorous and effortlessly soothing voice, a raucous laugh. Her personal attributes include infinite patience, self-deprecating wit, an implicit understanding and acceptance of her own inferiority, and her devotion to whites. The mammy was also large-breasted, desexualized, and potentially hostile towards Black men. Many of these characteristics were denied to African-American female slaves but were generally attributed to the mammy.
Clothing
The dress often reflects the status of her enslaver. The mammy is usually neat and clean and wears attire that is suitable for her domestic duties. Sometimes a mammy would consider herself to be "dressed up", but typically it was an addition of a bonnet and a silk velvet mantle, which tended to belong to her enslaver.Living conditions
When the mammy did not stay in the house of the enslavers or was not busy attending to the needs of their children, she would live separately. She lived with her husband and children in a cabin that was distinguished from the cabins of other enslaved individuals in size and structure. The cabin would be placed near the enslaver's house, but at a distance from the other cabins.Although her duties were far less tiring and strenuous, her hours were often long, leaving little time for her own leisure. Her life revolved around her duties, which did not allow her an opportunity to have an individual lifestyle other than serving. There was flexibility in her duties that distinguished her from an ordinary nurse or a wet nurse. In some of the wealthier households, the mammy had assistants who would help her take care of the household's children. These women were often much younger than the mammy herself.
The mammy, unlike other slaves, was usually not for sale, and the children of the mammy were kept in the same family for as long as possible, retaining the same relationships that the mammy had with the enslaver. There were often times when a mammy was forced to leave her own children behind to care for the owner's children. In many cases mammies chose to have their own children taken away because they needed to be able to provide mother's milk to nourish their enslaver's children. They feared that if they were feeding their own children there would be not be enough milk for the enslaver's children.
Roles in plantation households
The fictional role of the mammy in plantation households grows out of the roles of enslaved African-Americans on the plantation. African-American slaves played vital roles in the plantation household. For the mammy, the majority of these duties generally are related to caring for the children of the enslaver's family, thus relieving the mistress of the house of all the drudgery work that is associated with childcare. When the children have grown up and were able to take care of themselves properly, the mammy's main role is to help the mistress with household tasks. As her years of service with the family increase, the mammy's sphere of influence increases as well. She is next to the mistress in authority and has the ability to give orders to everybody in the house.The mammy is often considered to be part of the slaveholding family as much as its blood members were considered. Although she is considered of a lower status, she is still included in the inner circle. Her role has often been referred to as a "unique type of foster motherhood". Aside from just tending to the needs of the children, the mammy is also responsible for teaching the proper etiquette to them, such as addressing the elders on the plantation as "aunt" or "uncle". She also taught what was the best speech on particular occasions and what was not. The mammy has the ability to discipline the children and is able to retain respect with those she worked with, even after the children grow to adulthood.
Advertising
The mammy caricature has been used as advertisements for corporations, especially within the food industry. In 2020, the brand Aunt Jemima came under criticism for its branding after receiving public criticism about the company using a mammy caricature as its logo. The character of Aunt Jemima was not a real person and was portrayed by several people, beginning with freed slave Nancy Green from 1893 to 1923, and followed by others including Anna Robinson, Edith Wilson, and Ethel Ernestine Harper. One of the founders of Aunt Jemima came up with the name and branding after hearing a minstrel song called "Old Aunt Jemima". Subsequently, other companies who profited from using images of black caricatures received criticism as well. Uncle Ben's, Mrs. Butterworth's, and Cream of Wheat are some of the companies that were spotlighted. In 2021, Quaker Oats, the owners of the Aunt Jemima brand, decided to rebrand it as The Pearl Milling Company and changed its logo from the mammy caricature to an image of a traditional milling building.File:Aunt Priscilla.png|thumb|Image of Aunt Priscilla and text in dialect from The Baltimore Sun, 1921
Aunt Priscilla's Recipes was a food and recipe column published in the Baltimore Sun during the 1930s. Aunt Priscilla was a mammy caricature who was the stereotypical good southern cook who spoke in a broken and exaggerated dialect. The alias of Aunt Priscilla was actually a white woman named Eleanor Purcell. Purcell also released several cookbooks under the alias. Purcell also took up the person of Aunt Ada in a column for The Evening Sun named "Ask Aunt Ada". Black women were often the faces of these food or housekeeping columns because of the stereotypes like the mammy which associated them with servant and domestic roles.
Images such as Aunt Jemima and Aunt Priscilla were mammy caricatures that created a negative and limiting representation as servant roles for white families.