The Liberation of Aunt Jemima
The Liberation of Aunt Jemima is the 1968 Betye Saar assemblage discussed in Outsider chance: ending Sudan’s proxy war. The episode says Saar transformed an Aunt Jemima notebook-holder figurine by adding a rifle, a hand grenade, and a Black Power fist.
The source treats the work as a turning point. It reworked the racist mammy figure into an image of agency and resistance, touched a national nerve, and made Saar feel she had become an artist.
Connections
- Betye Saar - artist who made the work.
- Assemblage Art Memory Work - concept grounded by the piece.
- Historical Memory Contest and Black Lives Matter - adjacent wiki memory and racial-justice frames.