# Aunt Jemima was a real person **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [August 21, 2010, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aunt-jemima-was-a-real-person/550944 "2010-08-21T02:37:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![deirmama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c89c15/32.png) [@deirmama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deirmama)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aunt-jemima-was-a-real-person/550944/1 "2010-08-21T02:37:59Z")
The Mills family from Red Oak, OH had their servant, Rosa Washington Riles, pose as Aunt Jemima. She traveled with Mr. Mills for decades but never received pay for her services of representing as Aunt Jemima. She is buried in the Red Oak Cemetary and her photo is on the headstone and it states that she is the original Aunt Jemima. Quaker Oats is nor the original owner of Aunt Jemima pancake mix. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aunt-jemima-was-a-real-person/550944/2 "2010-08-21T02:51:39Z")
Hi, **deirmama** , welcome to the Straight Dope. I’ve moved your thread from ATMB (which we use for discussions about how the board is run) to Comments on Staff Reports, which is where discussions about articles written by the SDSAB go. Also, for future reference, we ask that people include a link to the column they’re talking about, so that others can follow along. Here’s a link to [the column about Uncle Ben and Aunt Jemima.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1605/were-uncle-ben-and-aunt-jemima-real-people) I hope you enjoy your time on the boards. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aunt-jemima-was-a-real-person/550944/3 "2010-08-21T03:26:28Z")
> [@deirmama](#): > > The Mills family from Red Oak, OH had their servant, Rosa Washington Riles, pose as Aunt Jemima. She traveled with Mr. Mills for decades but never received pay for her services of representing as Aunt Jemima. She is buried in the Red Oak Cemetary and her photo is on the headstone and it states that she is the original Aunt Jemima. > > Quaker Oats is nor the original owner of Aunt Jemima pancake mix. When did she do this? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aunt-jemima-was-a-real-person/550944/4 "2010-08-21T16:13:59Z")
> **[Rosa “Aunt Jemima” Washington Riles (1901-1969) -...](https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/1205/rosa-riles)** > > Mrs. Rosa; beloved wife of Wayman Riles; dear mother of Ruth Sugges; dear sister of Mrs. Lula Garcia, Mrs. Ruth Arnold, Mr. Carl Washington; also survived by other relatives; residence 877 Lincoln Park Dr., Apt. C; Wednesday, December 17, 1969.In... > [@](#): > > Born Rosa Washington Riles in Red Oak, Ohio, she was the third popular symbol for the Quaker Oats Company’s Aunt Jemima Pancake and Syrup products. Recruited in the 1930s, she traveled around the country making public appearances playing Aunt Jemima until 1948. More on [Rosa Washington Riles](http://www.nku.edu/~freedomchronicle/OldSiteArchive/archive/issue4/se_index.php?editorial=honoringanamerican). ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aunt-jemima-was-a-real-person/550944/5 "2010-08-21T16:32:56Z")
Well, this is interesting. That article reminded me that I actually have a copy of _Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben, and Rastus: Blacks in Advertising, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow_ by Marilyn Kern-Foxworth in my to-be-read collection. She does not mention a Rosa Washington Riles. Instead the woman who started playing Aunt Jemima in 1933, ten years after the death of Nancy Green, the first portrayer, is named Anna Robinson. This is confirmed on the official [Aunt Jemima History](http://www.auntjemima.com/aj_history/) page. After Robinson, Edith Wilson, Ethel Ernestine Harper, Rosie Hall, and Aylene Lewis took the role. By the 1950s there were many Aunt Jemimas, some touring, some at the Disneyland Aunt Jemima restaurant, some for television. It seems likely, from the T. J. Tucker article referenced on [this page](http://www.prwatch.org/node/4005), that Riles was one of the many Aunt Jemimas of the 1950s, not the one from 1933.