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Top 10 Fascinating Facts about Sarah Baartman

Sarah Baartman was a Khoikhoi woman who was exhibited as a freak show attraction in 19th-century Europe under the name Hottentot Venus. The term “Hottentot” was the colonial-era term for the indigenous Khoikhoi people of the southwestern area of Africa.

The women were exhibited for their steatopygic body type uncommon in Western Europe. This body was perceived as a subject of scientific interest as well as of erotic projection.Baartman was born to a Khoikhoi family in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. While her birth name is unknown, her surname has been spelt Bartman and Bartmann. Her mother died when she was an infant and her father was later killed by Bushmen (San people) while driving cattle.

She was born and raised in South Africa. Later on, in life, Sarah Baartman met surgeon Alexander Dunlop. He gave her the idea of moving to Europe and making money by exhibiting herself. Sarah therefore travelled to Europe in 1810. Her story is quite interesting. Here are the top 10 Fascinating Facts about Sarah Baartman.

1. She was named Ssehura at birth by her Khoisan parents

Photo by Jebulon. Wikimedia Commons.

Sarah Baartman, or Saartjie, as she was often referred to, was named Ssehura at birth by her Khoisan parents. She was born around 1789. She belonged to the cattle-herding Gonaquasub group who resided in the Gamtoos Valley in the Eastern Cape of South Africa.

Baartman was re-named Saartjie, a diminutive form of Sarah in Dutch, when she was sold into slavery to a trader named Pieter Willem Cezar.

2. She grew up in a colonial farm

Sarah grew up on a colonial farm near Hankey where it is believed she worked as a servant after losing both her parents during her adolescent years. Sarah was 16 years old.

Dutch colonialists seeking to expand their empire came into conflict with the indigenous Khoisan people in the Eastern Cape. Many became absorbed into the Dutch labor system. Sarah became the 鈥減roperty鈥� of Cezar, who set the future tragic timeline of her life.

3. William Dunlop introduced to Sarah the idea of exhibiting herself

 Sarah moved to Cape Town where indigenous African women were considered abnormal, inferior, and exotically desirable to white Europeans. With her honey brown skin and exotic features that included her large and protruding buttocks, Sarah found herself the focus of curious attention.

Her distinctly non-European look with whispers of sexual intrigue caught the eye of surgeon William Dunlop who made a deal with Cezar to take over 鈥渙wnership鈥� of Sarah. William told Sarah she would make money by displaying herself.

4. Sarah Baartman was exhibited in London

Photo by Jebulon. Wikimedia Commons.

bDunlop put Sarah on display in London as a primitive and extraordinary phenomenon. Her half naked body was exhibited to anyone who was willing to pay the one shilling admittance fee.

For a higher price, the more affluent in society could touch her. Her large buttocks, in particular, were a point of interest. London fashion at the time emphasized women鈥檚 derrieres with extravagant bows and frilly bustles. Sarah鈥檚 buttocks where grotesquely inspected and secretly craved.

5. She was later moved to France

While London was friendly because of the laws, France was unsympathetic to Sarah. She was sold to an animal handler. Here her exploitation and degradation intensified as she was led around and given instruction like an animal.

Her female organs were studied as an object of macabre interest and sexual peculiarity. It is also believed that during this time she fell, or was forced, into prostitution and became a heavy drinker.

6. She died at the age of 26

Photo by British Museum. Wikimedia Commons.

Sarah died at the age of 26 from an inflammatory disease that was believed to be related to syphilis, alcoholism, smallpox, or pneumonia. Sadly, her freak show display continued macabrely after her death.

Although Cuvier did not perform an autopsy on Sarah, he did make a plaster cast of her body before dissecting it.

7. Her body parts remained on display even after her death

After Cuvier had dissected Sarah鈥檚 body, he pickled her brain and genitalia and placed them in jars on display at the Mus茅e de l鈥橦omme in 麻豆APP. There they remained for over a century until 1974, as 鈥減roof鈥� of Culvier鈥檚 theory of racial evolution.

Her organs, genitalia, and buttocks were thought to be evidence of her sexual primitivism and intellectual equality with that of an orangutan.

8. Sarah’s remains were later taken to her homeland

Photo by Leo za1. Wikimedia Commons.

Following South Africa鈥檚 first free and democratic elections, then president Nelson Mandela requested that Sarah鈥檚 remains be returned to the country for burial. After much legal wrangling and debates within the French National Assembly, France acceded to the request on March 6, 2002.

Sarah鈥檚 remains were repatriated to her homeland in the Gamtoos Valley two months later. She was buried on August 9, 2002, over 200 years after her birth.

9. Sarah’s life brought to life the colonial exploitation and racism

Sarah is the first documented Khoisan to arrive in Europe and, although much of her story has been lost, over the years she has come to be seen as the epitome of colonial exploitation, racism, and commodification of black people.

Several books have been published about her treatment and cultural significance, with author Natasha Gordon-Chipembere penning, 鈥淪he has become the landscape upon which multiple narratives of exploitation and suffering within black womanhood have been enacted,鈥� yet amid all this 鈥渢he woman remains invisible.鈥�

10. Sarah alleged consenting her exhibitions in a court case

While in England, a group called 鈥楢frican Association鈥� came to know of her and filed a court case to set her free and as it was just after a few years of passing Slave Trade Act of 1807.

However, Sarah all the allegations on her owners and said that she came to England by her own free will and she didn鈥檛 intend to go back to her homeland. She further said that she wasn鈥檛 getting sexually abused or mistreated and that she was happy the way she was getting treated. Her story will forever be quite interesting.