Again, she doesn't enter into the cartoon tableau. She's the only real person in the ad. But who was she?
Anna Short Harrington, born in 1897 in Marlboro County, South Carolina, began her career as Aunt Jemima in 1935. She had to support her five children, and she moved with her family to Syracuse, New York, where she cooked for a living. Quaker Oats discovered her when she was cooking at a fair. An ad in Woman's Home Companion in November 1935 said, "Let ol Auntie sing in yo' kitchen." It was her picture with a bandana used on Quaker Oats products. Harrington continued to play the role for 14 years, and she made enough money to buy a large house and rent rooms. That house was demolished to make way for Interstate 81.
Harrington died in 1955. According to John Troy McQueen, author of The Story of Aunt Jemima, "she really was famous for cooking pancakes."
As for rice "Shot from Guns" - well, that's our next subject.
