Black chef that’s been on Cream of Wheat packaging for decades is being removed

[calendria]

 
 

The current chef replaced Cream of Wheat’s first (and much more problematic) mascot.

When the hot breakfast cereal launched in the 1890s, the product featured a chef named “Rastus,” a caricature of Black Americans who was dim-witted and spoke in broken English, according to CNN, and whose name is now considered a racial slur.

The image used today is likely based on Frank White, a chef from Michigan.


While Cream of Wheat has stated that current chef image is based on a photo of a chef working in a Chicago restaurant, according to Ferris State University, the company never bothered to record the man's name. However, Frank White, a chef from Michigan that the university describes as “well traveled” is said to have told friends and neighbors that he was the model for the Cream of Wheat chef. When he died in 1935, the local newspaper described him as someone who had “posed for an advertisement of a well-known breakfast food.”

The smiling Black chef that’s been on Cream of Wheat packaging for decades is being removed.

In a statement obtained by USA Today and The New York Times, B&G Foods said that research indicates the image of the Black man may be based on an actual Chicago chef named Frank White, but it’s being removed because “it reminds some consumers of earlier depictions they find offensive.”
It’s not immediately clear when customers can expect the Cream of Wheat packaging to be changed.

The Times reports that the character on the box was once named “Rastus,” a pejorative term for Black men, and that he was once depicted as a barely literate cook who didn’t know what vitamins were.

[potluck6]

Oh please gimme a break. That pic of him goes with creme of wheat perfectly. They are fixing  something not broken.

[metsrock69]

they also removed the black aunt jemima woman from the syrup bottle. It  is just another thing that has gone wrong in the year 2020

[oldbuddy]

Another reason to keep our original Little Black Sambo book, it will be worth a fortune some day.     

[Donnamarg323]

Another reason to keep our original Little Black Sambo book, it will be worth a fortune some day.     

You better be more worried about getting your forum bonus from FC the past few months then a "Black Sambo book"

[oldbuddy]

Another reason to keep our original Little Black Sambo book, it will be worth a fortune some day.     

You better be more worried about getting your forum bonus from FC the past few months then a "Black Sambo book"

I am not worried at all, I already have the Black Sambo book and FusionCash meets my needs just fine right now.

[Nancy5]

I think this whole thing is totally ridiculous.  We were fine for years with Uncle Ben, Aunt Jemina, Washington Redskins, etc.  I don’t think people ever thought those as racist.  This just started recently and I don’t know why but I think these things are getting totally out of control.