thumbnail|Mauma Mollie. She died in the 1850s at her master's family home in Florida. A family member described her as nursing "nearly all of the children in the family" and said that they loved her as a "second mother".

thumb|right|"[[Mammy's Cupboard", 1940 novelty architecture restaurant in Adams County, Mississippi]]

A mammy is a U.S. historical stereotype depicting women of African descent, usually enslaved, who did domestic work, including nursing children. 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

thumb|upright|right|Sculptor [[Ulric Stonewall Jackson Dunbar with a maquette of his proposal for the "mammy memorial", 1923]]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".

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.

Melissa Harris-Perry describes the relationship between the mammy and other African Americans in Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America (2011) 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 women of European descent and children."

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.

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 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 (1923–1951), Edith Wilson (1948–1966), and Ethel Ernestine Harper (the 1950s). 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. 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.

Cinema

thumb|225x225px|Mickey Mouse performing the word "Mammy" in a 1930 book

left|thumb|Al Jolson wearing [[Blackface in a promotional still from the 1930 film Mammy]]

In the early 20th century, the mammy character was common in many films. Al Jolson was known for his blackface depiction of the song "My Mammy" throughout his career with it featuring prominently in The Jazz Singer (1927). It also was the namesake for a 1930 film he starred in, Mammy. The Walt Disney Company also employed the stereotype in their works, including in 1929's The Haunted House wherein Mickey Mouse spoofs Jolson, as well as in printed Disney media. The 1931 short The Moose Hunt features Pluto speaking the repeated phrase of "Mammy!" in one of his few speaking roles.

thumb|210x210px|[[Hattie McDaniel in a promotional image as "Mammy" from Gone with the Wind]]

Hattie McDaniel became the first African American to win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress with her performance as "Mammy" in Gone with the Wind in 1939. In 1940, shortly after the win, the NAACP scrutinized McDaniel's role, and criticized Hollywood for the lack of diverse Black roles and characters outside of servitude. McDaniel responded to backlash by saying, "Why should I complain about making $7,000 playing a maid? If I didn't, I'd be making $7 a week actually being one".

Some of the contemporary media portrayals of the mammy caricature have been acted out by African-American men (Henson, 2013). A contemporary portrayal of the mammy caricature is seen in the film Big Momma's House directed by Raja Gosnell and starring Martin Lawrence. In the movie Martin Lawrence plays an FBI agent, Malcolm Turner, who goes undercover as "Big Momma" Hattie Mae Pierce, who exhibits the stereotypical mannerisms and appearance of a mammy caricature. The character of Big Momma is a plus-size older African-American matriarch and homemaker with overtly religious beliefs and a nurturing demeanor. Another mammy stereotype that the movie displays is the one of midwifery and domestic work. This originates from the history of older African-American women serving as midwives on plantations.

The Help is a movie based on a novel by Kathryn Stockett about maids of African descent of white families in Jackson, Mississippi during the 1960s. The novel and film center around the experience of African-American domestic workers, influenced by the writer and director both having African-American nannies growing up. The story is positive from the perspective of the main character Skeeter, who has also been raised by a African-American nanny. During the movie, Skeeter convinces several African-American maids to share their stories and grievances, which causes an uproar. The movie came under criticism for several reasons, one of which being that both the novel and film were written by white people and executed by them. These portrayals of African-American maids were derived from the limited perspectives of people who did not share the life experiences of the people being depicted. The Association of Black Historians released a statement saying, "The Help distorts, ignores and trivializes the experiences of African-American domestic workers". When asked about her role in the movie, Viola Davis expressed her concern with playing the role because of the stereotype. However, she argued that the mammy remains a caricature because she is never humanized in the writings or portrayals. Davis' mother and grandmother also worked as maids, so she was familiar with the experience and lives of African-American women within domestic work. Davis also challenged filmmakers to explore the lives of these women outside of the kitchen and to not limit their identity to that of maids.

  • Opal, Edgar Martin's Boots and Her Buddies

center|thumb|1000px|Edgar Martin's Boots and Her Buddies (March 21, 1926)

Dolls and ceramics

thumb|upright|Mammy [[figurines in the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia]]

Mammy imagery can be found in the form of several objects including dolls, ceramics, cookie jars, salt and pepper shakers, and other household items. The mammy caricature was part of post Civil War propaganda that spread negative and false stereotypes about African Americans. These mammy ceramics and dolls had similar effects as the false representations created by minstrel shows. These figurines often had exaggerated features and tried to falsely portray African Americans as "docile, dumb and animated". Despite their racist meaning, these items have been passed down and seen as memorabilia. Although these mammy dolls and ceramics dehumanize African-American people, some of them are still valued and sold for hundreds of dollars.

In Natchez, Mississippi, there is a roadside restaurant called Mammy's Cupboard that was founded in 1940. The building is shaped like a mammy caricature along with a head-wrap and long red skirt. Similar to Aunt Jemima, Mammy's Cupboard uses the imagery and the stereotype of women of African descent to promote a business. The restaurant's use of a mammy caricature to portray African-American servitude is reminiscent of how it was portrayed in the Old South.

The character Beloved Belindy was designed by Raggedy Ann creator Johnny Gruelle. This character was sold as a doll and featured in books.

Novels

Beloved Belindy, Johnny Gruelle

Source:.

Television

Televisions did not become common in US household until around the mid to late 1940s, making radio shows popular forms of entertainment for the American family. In 1939, Beulah Brown debuted as a character on the radio show Homeward Unincorporated. Beulah, as a character, was highly stereotypical and was the quintessential mammy figure auditorily. The character was originally played by white actor Marlin Hurt. The character was well taken to and added to several other radio shows. Over time, the creators and producers of these shows wanted to have an actual African-American woman as the voice of the character. Hattie McDaniel was given the role on the radio version in 1947, as she was famous for her multiple other award-winning performances portraying the mammy stereotype. The radio show was taken to television in the early 1950s and went on to run for three seasons. The first season of the show starred Ethel Waters, who later left the series due to not wanting to portray the mammy stereotype any longer. McDaniel took over the role for the second season, filming a total of six episodes before becoming ill. McDaniel has been noted to have chosen to play these mammy roles time and time again as they were the only accessible roles for a black actress during this time. In addition to her talent on the radio, in real life McDaniel was the epitome of what a mammy looked like, being big in size with a large mouth, and dark skin that contrasts with white teeth and big eyes. The role on television was also portrayed by Louise Beavers. Aside from the actress that portrayed her, Beulah, as a character, had all the characteristics of a mammy. She always made sure her "family", the family she worked for, was well taken care of. Helping them at any cost and putting their needs above her own can be seen in multiple episodes of the show. The NAACP, and other critics, did not like the image of African-American women the show represented, as it supported the mammy stereotype.

Over time, the image of the mammy was given a contemporary makeover. Some of the more contemporary features that the mammy received were that her head rag was removed and she became smaller, as well as lighter in complexion. In addition, her owner was not always white.

Some contemporary television sitcoms which featured mammies include Maude, where the character Florida, played by Esther Rolle, worked as a domestic for a white family. A spin-off titled Good Times was made, where Rolle's character became the center of the series; the show focused on her family, which lived generally happy lives in a low-income housing project. Other television series that featured mammies as characters include That's My Mama, Gimme a Break! and What's Happening!!.

When other contemporary mammies emerged, they usually retained their occupation as domestic workers and exhibited these physical feature changes; however, their emotional qualities remained the same. These contemporary mammies continued to be quick-witted and remained highly opinionated. A new twist in the outlook of the contemporary mammy occurred in the sitcom The Jeffersons, where Florence, a maid played by Marla Gibbs, works for an affluent African-American family.

Legacy

Nowadays, stereotypical or controlling images of African-American women reflect the economic, legal, and social changes that have occurred to people of African descent over the past 50–60 years. The images are also reflective of a society as a whole – a global economy, unprecedented media reach and transitional racial inequality – and are class specific. Working class Black women are depicted as the “Bad Black Mother”/”Welfare Queen” and the “Bitch” (materialistic and hyper sexual Black women within “hip-hop” culture), Middle class Black women are depicted as “Black Ladies” with allegedly un-restrainable sexual desire, and an educated Black woman is often depicted as an “Educated Black Bitch” who is portrayed as manipulative and controlling. Black women in positions of power are often seen as the “Modern-day Mammy”, which now refers to a well-educated and successful Black woman within the upper/upper middle class who “uphold[s] white-dominated structures, institutions, or bosses at the expense of [her] personal [life].” This is a derivative of the original “Mammy” stereotype in which the Black woman was not only subservient but often happy to serve her white enslaver.

See also

  • Black matriarchy
  • Dinah
  • Madame Sul-Te-Wan
  • Magical Negro
  • Stereotypes of African Americans
  • Uncle Tom

References

Inline citations

General references

  • Bernstein, Robin, Racial Innocence: Performing American Childhood from Slavery to Civil Rights (New York: New York University Press, 2011), 157, 174–176, 180–181.
  • Bogle, Donald, Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, & Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films (New York: Continuum, 1973/1994), 57.
  • Camacho, Roseanne V., "Race, Region, and Gender in a Reassessment of Lillian Smith." Southern Women: Histories and Identities. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1992. p. 168.
  • Clinton, Catherine, The Plantation Mistress: Woman's World in the Old South (New York: Pantheon Books, 1982), 201–202.
  • Jewel, K. Sue, From Mammy to Miss America and Beyond: Cultural Images and the Shaping of US Social Policy, 1993.
  • Parkhurst, Jessie W., "The Role of the Black Mammy in the Plantation Household", The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 23, No. 3, July 1938
  • Smith, Lillian, Killers of the Dream. New York: W.W. Norton, 1949. p. 123-4.
  • Thurber, Cheryl, "The Development of the Mammy Image and Mythology." Southern Women: Histories and Identities, Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1992. p. 96.
  • Turner, Patricia A., Ceramic Uncles & Celluloid Mammies: Black Images and Their Influence on Culture (New York: Anchor Books, 1994), 44.
  • Van Wormer, Katherine, Jackson III, David W., & Sudduth, Charletta (2012). The maid narratives: Black domestics and white families in the Jim Crow South. LSU Press.
  • Pilgrim, David. "The Mammy Caricature". Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia. Ferris State University, Michigan.
  • Mammy Dearest: African-American House Servants in Birth of the Nation, Gone with the Wind, and Song of the South American Studies at the University of Virginia
  • https://shadesofnoir.org.uk/a-different-world-mammy-dearest/