Opening book details…
Can I read Clinging to Mammy : The Faithful Slave in Twentieth-Century America on EtoBox?
Clinging to Mammy : The Faithful Slave in Twentieth-Century America by Micki McElya; Associate Professor of History Micki McElya is a history book available to read on EtoBox.
What is Clinging to Mammy : The Faithful Slave in Twentieth-Century America about?
<p>When Aunt Jemima beamed at Americans from the pancake mix box on grocery shelves, many felt reassured by her broad smile that she and her product were dependable. She was everyone's mammy, the faithful slave who was content to cook and care for whites, no matter how grueling the labor, because she loved them. This far-reaching image of the nurturing black mother exercises a tenacious hold on the American imagination.</p> <p>Micki McElya examines why we cling to mammy. She argues that the figure of the loyal slave has played a powerful role in modern American politics and culture. Loving, hating, pitying, or pining for mammy became a way for Americans to make sense of shifting economic, social, and racial realities. Assertions of black people's contentment with servitude alleviated white fears while reinforcing racial hierarchy. African American resistance to this notion was varied but often placed new constraints on black women.</p> <p>McElya's stories of faithful slaves expose the power and reach of the myth, not only in popular advertising, films, and literature about the South, but also in national monument proposals, child custody cases, white women's minstrelsy, New Negro a
Who reads Clinging to Mammy : The Faithful Slave in Twentieth-Century America?
It is typically read by self-directed learners exploring a subject in depth.
Common subject areas: history, science, philosophy, social sciences.
- Author
- Micki McElya; Associate Professor of History Micki McElya
- Publisher
- Harvard University, Department of Sanskrit & Indian Studies
- Published
- 2007
- Language
- EN
- ISBN
- 9780674024335
- Category
- history
- Subjects
- Science, Psychology, Sociology
- Rating
- 4.06 / 5 (31 ratings)
- Updated
- 2026-03-14
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