Burgers in Blackface

Anti-Black Restaurants Then and Now

Naa Oyo A. Kwate

Aunt Jemima is the face of pancake mix. Uncle Ben sells rice. Chef Rastus shills for Cream of Wheat. Stereotyped Black faces and bodies have long promoted retail food products that are household names. Much less visible to the public are the numerous restaurants that deploy unapologetically racist logos, themes, and architecture. These marketing concepts, which center nostalgia for a racist past and commemoration of our racist present, reveal the deeply entrenched American investment in anti-blackness. Drawing on wide-ranging sources from the late 1800s to the present, Burgers in Blackface gives a powerful account, and rebuke, of historical and contemporary racism in restaurant branding.

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#BurgersInBlackface

About the Author

Background: The Coon Chicken Inn, Seattle, Washington, ca. 1930. Source: Coon Chicken Inn Records and Graham Family Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.

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@professahKwate
In my book #BurgersInBlackface @UMinnPress: Chain began 1957. NAACP protested name as early as ‘61. Protests and la… https://t.co/rr92H89KsA
June 08, 2020
@professahKwate
Ei! #BurgersInBlackface a @SeminaryCoop notable book for 2019! Happy dance. @fiveoclockbot @UMinnPress Check out… https://t.co/YIz6yFJVkL
December 16, 2019
@LemanieGrace
Required reading for advertisers: "These marketing concepts, which center nostalgia for a racist past and commemora… https://t.co/E1rycpxeMM
December 13, 2019
@professahKwate
Hey wow! #BurgersInBlackface was listed among “Books We Recommend”! @UMinnPress @fiveoclockbot @dmkasprzak https://t.co/DstmM4C6RV
December 03, 2019
@professahKwate
I’m dead. My book #BurgersInBlackface pub with @UMinnPress was on the front table and featured in the email newslet… https://t.co/FXWWAvJGcB
October 27, 2019
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My first born is here! And awfully cute, I dare say. https://t.co/glYP1rOZHY Thanks to @dmkasprzak @fiveoclockbot a… https://t.co/Q6VyTsvcjW
August 01, 2019

Metadata

edition
1
publisher
University of Minnesota Press
publisher place
Minneapolis, MN
restrictions
Please see the Creative Commons website for details about the restrictions associated with the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.
rights
Burgers in Blackface: Anti-Black Restaurants Then and Now by Naa Oyo A. Kwate is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
rights holder
Naa Oyo A. Kwate
rights territory
World
series number
33
series title
Forerunners: Ideas First
version
1.0
doi
https://doi.org/10.5749/9781452964003