Nancy Green

"Aunt Jemima" Victim of Auto
The Daily Herald (Chicago, Illinois)
October 12, 1923

Colored Mammy of Pancake Fame Crushed to Death in Chicago; Born in Kentucky

Chicago ----- Pancake season is here, but in some Chicago households the sizzling of the griddle will bring memories tinged with sadness.

"Aunt Jemima" is dead. The aged negro woman whose ability to make "flapjacks" was capitalized by millers, whose bandanna-wreathed smile forms a mental picture for thousand of lovers of a "plate of wheats" and whose skill with the pancake turner furnished amusement for and drew the envy of those who attended expositions and fairs ever since the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, fell a victim to an automobile in Chicago recently.

Her death marks the passing of an interesting character who will be mourned not only by the negro race but by numerous wealthy Chicago families as well. For Mrs. Nancy Green will live longest in memory as "Aunt Jemima."

"Aunt Jemima" was born in Montgomery County, Kentucky in 1834 and came to Chicago as a nurse for the Walker family. She nursed and made pancakes for the late Circuit Judge Charles M. Walker, chief justice of the Municipal court, and his brother, Dr. Samuel, now a leading North side physician, when they were boys. They spread her fame among their boy chums, and before long "Aunt Jemima's pancakes" became a common phrase in Chicago when good things to eat were discussed.

A milling company heard of her, searched her out, obtained her recipe and induced her to make pancakes at the World's Fair. After that she went from one Exposition to another demonstrating her skill. There was one, however, that she refused to attend the Paris Exposition. All inducements that could be made were put forward, but "Aunt Jemima" refused to budge.

"No, suh," she said. "They ain't no man gonna git me on th watah. I was bo'n in this country an' I'm gonna die heah, not somewheah 'twixt heah an' somewheah's else."

She was one of the first colored missionary workers and one of the organizers of the Olivet Baptist church, now the largest colored church in the world, with a membership of over 9000.

She is buried in Oak Woods Cemetery in Chicago Cook County, Illinois.

Source: On December 12, 2017, Lesley Martin, a reference librarian at the Chicago History Museum Research Center, found an actual image of Mrs. Green as it appeared in The Daily Herald in an article on her death.