Sarah Baartman was speculated to have been born in 1789 in the Gamtoos valley in the eastern part of the Cape Colony. She was born to a Khoisan family and spent a large majority of her time as a child and teenager on Settler farms. Later in her life to become known for her unusual body shape in comparison to European females.
In 1970, she was approached by Peter Cesar in an attempt to encourage her to move Cape Town. The Reason Cape Town was the selected location was due to Britain running it at the time. Sarah then moved to Cape Town but it is left unknown if she did this on her own accord or was forced. She acclaimed a job upon arrival as a wet-nurse in Peter's brother in law's house. Baartman lived with slaves but had different treatment due to her Khoisan decent. During her time in Cape Town, Sarah was also known to have found love with Hendrik Van Jong who worked for the military. Unfortunately, this was short lived as he needed to leave alongside his regiment.
William Dunlop made a suggestion to Sarah in order to make more money. He put forward the idea that she should travel to England in order to make money by exhibition. Sarah complied providing Hendrik Cesars came along for the ride, which he agreed to in 1810. The money was to be made through Sarah performing on stage for a crowd. There was a large reception as people came to see her due to the fact she wasn't viewed as person but as an example of the natural world. It is clear Sarah was used to be apart of Freak shows which were far from uncommon in England. On stage she wore skin-tight, flesh-coloured clothing, beads and feathers and a pipe to smoke.
Uproar was later caused by an Abolitionist who created a newspaper campaign for her to be released. Hendrik protested stating she should be entitled to earn her living by exhibiting herself as an Irish Giant or a Dwarf. Doing this, he compared Baartman to Charles Byrne and Patrick Coter O'brien who were contemporary Irish Giants. The matter was taken to court and Baartman was interviewed but in the end led to more publicity for Baartman as an exhibit.
A man named Henry Taylor then took Sarah to France where she would be sold to an animal trainer to be enslaved. Her exhibition in Paris was different due to scientific racism as scientists became curious if she had an elongated labia. Therefore, a scientific painting was conducted. However, a lot of paintings have been said to be unrealistic and exaggerated to show an extreme different between her and European females. She was examined in March 1815. Her experience in Paris was more negative as she had treatment equivalent to an animal and it's alleged at one point, she had a collar placed around her neck to symbolise she wasn't being treated as a human.
Baartman died on December 29 1815 due to a severe disease that is speculated to be syphilis or smallpox. It is thought that her final moments were mostly miserable due to how she was treated. A dissection was put in place by a man named Cuvier on Sarah's body but an autopsy wasn't put in place to discover her actual reason of death.. Later, Cuvier linked Baartman to his theories on racial evolution linking parts of her to ape-like features.
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