Author Description

Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben, And Rastus: Blacks in Advertising, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow provides a mirror to our past—a past that has been ignored or overshadowed for too long. From the foreword by Alex Haley, Marilyn Kern-Foxworth chronicles the stereotypical portrayals of Blacks in advertising from the turn of the century to the present. Beginning with slave advertisements, Kern-Foxworth discusses how slavery led naturally to the stereotypes found in early advertisements. From the end of the slave era to the culmination of the Civil Rights movement, advertising portrayed Blacks as Aunt Jemimas, Uncle Bens, and Rastuses, and the author explores the psychological impact of these portrayals. With the advent of the Civil Rights movement, organizations such as Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) voiced their opposition and became active in the elimination of such advertising. In the final chapters, Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben, And Rastus examines the reactions of consumers to integrated advertising and the current role of Blacks in advertising. Its truly novel subject matter and its inclusion of vintage and contemporary advertisements featuring Blacks make this a valuable work. Alex Haley contributed to Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben, And Rastus by writing the foreword. Marilyn Kern-Foxworth is Associate Professor in the Department of Journalism at Texas A&M University. In 1994, she was the Garth C. Reeves Endowed Chair at Florida A&M University, Department of Journalism, Media and Graphic Arts. In 1981, she received a Kizzy Award from the Black Women Hall of Fame Foundation.