Aunt Jemima Archives - Chicago's 1893 Worlds Fair

Mar. 27–29, 2025: World’s Fair Women in “The Mammy Project” (Blue Lake, CA)
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Mar. 27–29, 2025: World’s Fair Women in “The Mammy Project” (Blue Lake, CA)

EVENTS

Mar. 27–29, 2025: World’s Fair Women in “The Mammy Project” (Blue Lake, CA)

Nancy Green and Ida B. Wells, two women who played important and diverse roles in the 1893 World’s Fair, are the subject of a performance by Michelle Matlock playing in Blue Lake, CA, on Mar. 27–29, 2025. The Mammy Project, written and performed by Michelle Matlock, unearths the gritty truth behind the century-old icon of Aunt Jemima. This bandanna-wearing superstar of minstrel shows, Hollywood epics, and the breakfast nook is reimagined from her dark roots in the antebellum South, [...]

By Scott|2025-03-25T15:25:01-05:00March 25th, 2025|Categories: EVENTS|Tags: Aunt Jemima, Ida B. Wells, Nancy Green|0 Comments

Apr. 28-July 9, 2021: “ReIMAGINE Aunt Jemima” exhibit (Chicago)
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Apr. 28-July 9, 2021: “ReIMAGINE Aunt Jemima” exhibit (Chicago)

EVENTS (past)

Apr. 28-July 9, 2021: “ReIMAGINE Aunt Jemima” exhibit (Chicago)

A new exhibit in Chicago explores an advertising campaign launched at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition and only recently ended. ReIMAGINE Aunt Jemima is on display in the lobby of the Carter G. Woodson Regional Library (9525 S Halsted Street in Chicago) from April 28 to July 9, 2021. ReIMAGINE Aunt Jemima on display at the Carter G. Woodson Regional Library in Chicago. The exhibit centers on the Chicagoans and "living trademarks" Nancy Green and Edith Wilson, [...]

By Scott|2021-08-08T09:45:55-05:00April 28th, 2021|Categories: EVENTS (past)|Tags: Aunt Jemima|0 Comments

Remembering Nancy Green, Aunt Jemima, and the 1893 World’s Fair
Gallery
Remembering Nancy Green, Aunt Jemima, and the 1893 World’s Fair

HISTORY

Remembering Nancy Green, Aunt Jemima, and the 1893 World’s Fair

Though relatively unknown at the time, one participant in the 1893 World’s Fair later became a famous fixture of food advertising and a part of many people’s kitchens for more than a century. For the past ninety-seven years, the final resting place of the real woman behind the character was an unmarked plot of grass in a cemetery on Chicago’s South Side. A sign welcoming guests to the September 5, 2020, headstone ceremony for Nancy Green. On [...]

By Scott|2024-01-15T07:42:58-06:00September 9th, 2020|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: Agricultural Building, Aunt Jemima, Nancy Green, Thomas Edison|2 Comments

“Chicago’s Lollapalooza Days: 1893-1934” Explores the Windy City’s Raucous Roots
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“Chicago’s Lollapalooza Days: 1893-1934” Explores the Windy City’s Raucous Roots

PRODUCTS, RESEARCH

“Chicago’s Lollapalooza Days: 1893-1934” Explores the Windy City’s Raucous Roots

Chicago's Lollapalooza Days: 1893-1934 by Jim Edwards. Arcadia Publishing, 2019. ISBN: 9781467103701. Softcover, 128 pages. $21.99. Partying ruled in the years between Chicago’s two World's Fairs, writes historian Jim Edwards in his introduction to Chicago's Lollapalooza Days: 1893-1934. The collection of 169 annotated images form a loose theme around the titular “lollapalooza” (a ball in the notorious First Ward, not a modern music festival). Edwards curates a visual review of many of the characters, fetes, and vice that enlivened [...]

By Scott|2025-01-30T18:39:09-06:00January 21st, 2020|Categories: PRODUCTS, RESEARCH|Tags: Aunt Jemima, Florenz Ziegfeld, H. H. Holmes, Harry Houdini, Ignacy Paderewski, Little Egypt, Sol Bloom, William T. Stead|0 Comments