This blog started out in 2007 focused on marketing. And so, of course, today we’re gonna talk about history.

Think back to 1888. The Civil War had been over for only one generation. There were 38 states in the Union, and the rest in the “western middle” would be joining soon, one after another. And if you had to pick one place that best represented the country at that time, you’d have to consider Missouri. It had been a conflicted border state in the war, which the “Missouri Compromise” had failed to prevent; St. Louis was the key jumping-off point into the frontier; and it was growing like a weed.

It was the age of packaged foods. Tabasco got going in 1868, Heinz and Campbell’s in ’69, Pillsbury and Folger’s in ‘72, Budweiser and Coke in ’86 (followed by Pepsi later in ’98). In that year of ’88, in St. Joseph, MO, a small town just up the river from Kansas City, there was a mill that produced flour, cornmeal, and associated products like syrup. Someone in that company concocted a mix of dry ingredients – pre-measured together in a box – to which all you had to add was water or milk, a little oil and an egg and, just like that, you had batter for pancakes and waffles.

Meanwhile, since long before the war, minstrel and vaudeville shows commonly included black servant characters. And one of the most common was “Jemima,” a pleasant cook in a headscarf. It was prohibited to refer to such a slave as “Mister” or “Miss(us)”, so a common title would be “Uncle” or “Aunt.”

All of which led the maker of the convenient pancake mix to brand their innovation, “Aunt Jemima,” leveraging the popularity of a song called, “Old Aunt Jemima,” that debuted in 1875, and featuring a picture of that character on the box. They also hired a former house slave, Nancy Green, to present the brand at the World Expo in Chicago in 1893. As the first mover in mixes, Aunt Jemima was able to corner the market, to the degree that the company eventually renamed itself after its product, and defended the brand against infringement so fiercely that, in 1915, it set a foundational precedent in trademark law known today as the “Aunt Jemima Doctrine.”

Quaker Oats bought the company in 1926 and eventually launched line extensions like various Aunt Jemima syrups. There were cardboard cutouts on the box. You could buy Aunt Jemima dolls. And so on. Quaker was subsequently bought by PepsiCo, one of the best marketing companies in the world. And at every step along the way, nobody considered rebranding the product.

Until only fairly recently. With pressure growing for equal rights, fair representation, and full respect for African-Americans, the country finally realized the character was unacceptable. Brands like Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben’s had to go.

On February 1, lawyers who work in the field noticed that Pepsi had quietly purchased trademarks for something called “Pearl Milling Company.” Meanwhile, at AuntJemima.com, the colors and fonts of the brand were the same, but the cook was missing, and the header bar had a message, “Soon to be known as Pearl Milling Company.” (There’s a feedback option to “share your thoughts,” so if you want to complain, knock yourself out.) And sure enough, on February 9 came the announcement of the retro-branding of the franchise, to Pearl Milling Company Original Pancake Mix and Syrup.

And so, 56,987 days since the outlawing of slavery in the United States, there will no longer be a house slave on the front of the box.

The press release also references a $1 million commitment to empower and uplift Black girls and women, and a $400 million, five-year program to uplift Black businesses and increase Black representation at PepsiCo.