{"product_id":"clinging-to-mammy-the-faithful-slave-in-twentiethcentury-america-9780674024335","title":"Clinging to Mammy: The Faithful Slave in Twentieth-Century America","description":"\u003cp\u003eWhen 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 everyones 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.  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 peoples 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.  McElyas 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 womens minstrelsy  New Negro activism  anti-lynching campaigns  and the civil rights movement. The color line and the vision of interracial motherly affection that helped maintain it have persisted into the twenty-first century. If we are to reckon with the continuing legacy of slavery in the United States  McElya argues  we must confront the depths of our desire for mammy and recognize its full racial implications.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45648250863669,"sku":"ByrdShop_0674024338","price":45.88,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780674024335.jpg?v=1781713725","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/clinging-to-mammy-the-faithful-slave-in-twentiethcentury-america-9780674024335","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}