Date of Award
6-27-2001
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
English
First Advisor
Candis LaPrade, Ph.D.
Second Advisor
Ellery Sedgewick, Ph.D.
Third Advisor
Jena A. Burges, Ph.D.
Abstract
From an image draped in calico and flipping pancakes to a figure wearing pearls and throwing hand grenades, Mammy exists as part of America's cultural heritage since the beginning of the nineteenth century. The Mammy character evolved in American iconography from the subservient kitchen Aunt Jemima to a modem aggressive woman ready for military combat. Early depictions of Mammy show her as being very humble, plain in dress and appearance, and subservient to her white masters . In From Mammy to Miss America and Beyond, Sue Jewell states, "[Mammy] is portrayed as an obese African-American woman, of dark complexion, with extremely large breasts and buttocks and shining white teeth visibly displayed in a grin. Most portrayals of mammy depict her wearing a calico dress or the type of uniform worn by domestics" (39). Today, this nineteenth-century construct continues to confine and define African-American women. However, African-American artists and writers strive to transform the image of the black female icon that literary mythology helped to create into an independent model for black womanhood.
Recommended Citation
Pagano, Nichol Michelina, "Mammy: From Pancakes to Grenades" (2001). Theses & Honors Papers. 168.
https://digitalcommons.longwood.edu/etd/168
Included in
Literature in English, North America, Ethnic and Cultural Minority Commons, Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons
