Who was Nancy Green?
Whether or not heirs of the Aunt Jemima women prevail in their lawsuit, their legacy represents whites’ common appropriation of black culinary expertise, said John van Willigen, a retired anthropology professor at the University of Kentucky, who mentions Green in his new book Kentucky’s Cookbook Heritage: Two Hundred Years of Southern Cuisine and Culture.
Green “represents this idea that African American cooks were behind the scenes,” Willigen said, “especially in places like Kentucky where their culinary innovations and developments were appropriated by white ladies.”