02/25/2021
BLACK HISTORY - THE TRINITY IN ADVERTISING:
Ironically, Nancy Green, Frank Brown & Frank L. White, All Have Last Names, That Describe Colors!! They Were Also THREE (3) Of The FIRST BLACKS To Become LIVING TRADEMARKS, In The World Of Advertising!! They Comprise What Has Been Called, THE TRINITY IN ADVERTISING
AUNT JEMIMA: The World Knew Her As "Aunt Jemima," But Her Given Name Was NANCY GREEN, A Black Storyteller Who Was Born A Slave, March 4, 1834, & One Of The First Black Corporate Models In the United States.The Famous Aunt Jemima Recipe Was Not Hers, But She Became The Advertising World's FIRST LIVING TRADEMARK. Miss Green Was Born A Slave, In Montgomery County, Kentucky. Chris Rutt, A Newspaperman, & Charles Underwood, Bought The Pearl Milling Company & Had The Original Idea Of Developing & Packaging A Ready-Mixed, Self-Rising Pancake Flour. To Survive In A Highly Competitive Business, The Men Needed An Image For Their Product. In 1889, Rutt Attended A Vaudeville Show Where He Heard A Song Called "Aunt Jemima" Sung By A Blackface Performer Who, Was Wearing An Apron & Bandanna Headband. He Decided To Call Their Pancake Flour "Aunt Jemima." Rutt & Underwood Were Broke, So in 1890, They Sold The Formula To The R.T. Davis Milling Company. Davis Began Looking For A Black Woman To Employ As A Living Trademark For His Product, & Found Nancy Green In Chicago. In1893 Green Was Introduced As Aunt Jemima At The World's Columbian Exposition Held in Chicago. Green, As "Aunt Jemima," Demonstrated The Pancake Mix! The Davis Milling Company Received Over 50,000 Orders. Nancy Green Was Signed To A Lifetime Contract & Traveled On Promotional Tours All Over the Country. Nancy Green Kept Her Job, Until A Car Crash In Chicago, Killed Her, On September 23, 1923. The Davis Company Also Ran Into Money Problems, & The Quaker Oats Company Purchased The Aunt Jemima Mills In 1925.
RASTUS: Rastus, The Cream Of Wheat Chef, Was Created Around 1890, By Emery Mapes, One Of The Owners Of North Dakota's Diamond Milling Company. When Looking For An Image To Appear On Their Company's "Middling" (Farina) Breakfast Porridge, Mapes, A Former Printer, Reportedly, Remembered The Image Of A Black Chef, Used On A Logo For A Skillet. Using The Skillet As A Template, & Calling His Product, "Cream of Wheat," The First Packages Went Public. The Original Logo, Featuring The Chef, Named Rastus, Was Used Until The 1920s, When The Woodcut Image Was Replaced By The Face Of FRANK L. WHITE, A Chicago Chef Who Was Paid $5.00 To Pose In A Chef's Hat & Jacket. The Face Of Frank L. White Has Been Featured On the Box, With Only Slight Modifications, Until The Present Day. Note: Rastus Was The General Name, Used To Describe A "Stereotypically, Happy Black Man" & Became A Familiar, Generic Character, In Minstrel Shows.
UNCLE BEN: The REAL Uncle Ben Was A Rice Farmer From Houston,Texas Whose Rice Crop, Continually Won Awards For Its High Quality In The 1940s. Gordon L. Harwell, Who Later Became President Of The Uncle Ben's Converted Rice Company, Was Dinning In A Chicago Restaurant With His Partner --- Planning The Development Of The Company, When He Saw The Person Whose Familiar Face Is Now Widely Known As Uncle Ben. Harwell & His Partner Decided To Name The Company After Deceased Farmer, Uncle Ben. To Represent Uncle Ben, The Men Used The Restaurant's Maitre d', FRANK BROWN. Many Black Americans Object to the Term "Uncle" (or "Aunt"), When Used In This Context, As It Was A Southern Form Of Address, First Used With Older Enslaved Peoples, Since They Were Denied Use Of Courtesy Titles.
