Are these food icons based on real people? Are these food icons real people? Check out this story on USATODAY.com: http://usat.ly/1xmiEBG A federal lawsuit claims that Aunt Jemima's likeness was based on Nancy Green, a slave born in Kentucky in 1834. The suit, filed in Chicago in August, also claims that Green and Anna Short Harrington were key in formulating the recipe for the self-rising pancake mix.