Aunt Jemima’s Pancake House, a California attraction that featured Black women dressed as enslaved house workers, was only for the entertainment of white travelers. But there was something even worse about this Jim Crow restaurant.
It sponsored a race where participants, clad in aprons and headscarves, tossed pancakes in skillets across an obstacle course! Winners won money and a picture with a Black actress who sang and danced as Aunt Jemima.
Another attraction, Coon Chicken Inn, dotted several highways along the Pacific Northwest coast from 1925 to 1949. This place was exactly what it sounded like – an overtly racist chicken restaurant. Regardless of protests from the NAACP, this hugely successful restaurant featured the bald head of a Black man, called a “coon” by white people.
Splash Mountain recently came under attack from Black activists for its long-running attraction that featured themes from Disney’s problematic “Song of the South.”
Still, white visitors enjoyed Uncle Remus, who mumbled like a caricature. Supposedly the ride is to be repurposed to feature the Princess and the Frog, but no clear date has been set.
White people continue to profit from the lies they tell about us. That’s why it’s more important than ever to ensure we know the truth about our history and to refuse to support anything that makes caricatures of our people.