‘INJUSTICE’

Aunt Jemima’s Great-Grandson Is Angry She’s Being Taken Off Syrup Bottles

“This company profits off images of our slavery. And their answer is to erase my great-grandmother's history,” said Larnell Evans, Sr.

The great-grandson of the woman who worked as “Aunt Jemima” for Quaker Oats, the titular figure of the famous syrup brand, is angry his ancestor will be removed from its bottles. Quaker Oats announced earlier this week that it would change the Aunt Jemima name and the image of a black woman on its maple syrup bottles due to the origins of the name in a racist stereotype. Larnell Evans, Sr. said, “This is an injustice for me and my family. This is part of my history...This company profits off images of our slavery. And their answer is to erase my great-grandmother's history. A black female. It hurts.” Evans’ relative was the second “Aunt Jemima,” Anna Short Harrington. The first was Nancy Green, a former enslaved woman hired to serve pancakes at the Chicago Worlds’ Fair in 1893. Evans filed a $3 billion lawsuit in 2014 claiming Quaker used Harrington’s pancake recipe and failed to pay royalties to her descendants.