Mammy

By Chloe Matherne

General Context

A “mammy” is a stereotype of Black women that dates to the Reconstruction period. Mammy figures tend to be dark-skinned, rotund, and domestic. They uphold the status quo of white supremacy, without ever challenging the system. They appear to hold traditional white values and hold other Black people to those values as well. The stereotypical mammy puts her life aside and finds joy in serving the white family she works for, being grateful to do so. The mammy was required to work for very long hours to do household tasks and take care of white children, even nursing them. It is a harmful stereotype for Black women that is often portrayed in period media.

Connection to Novel

Aunt Margaret acts as the “mammy” character in Of Love and Dust. She takes care of Tite and in many ways Louise too. She does the housework for the Bonbons and warns the other people of the plantation to stay within the status quo and in doing that upholds the system of white supremacy, whether Black like Marcus or white like Louise. Even after Marcus dies at Bonbon’s hand, she stands by his claim of self-defense and does not do anything to show support for the workers on the plantation who see it as an injustice. She has gotten out of the fields and intends to preserve her life that stems from the house slave role that originated during the time where slavery was upheld. She seems comfortable in her life and is resistant to change even though she works in a system that categorizes her as other and lesser in the eyes of the white people she works for her. One can see this in the way that Louise talks to her and tells her to “shut up” for trying to warn them that her and Marcus’ plan to run away might end up in bloodshed (207). Readers might wonder if Gaines’s use of the mammy stereotype contributes to the cultural harm it foments.