Saartjie “Sarah” Baartman (ca. 1788-1816) is not a name most are familiar with, but it is a name we all will remember after this.
As mentioned in the video, after Baartman’s death in 1816, George Cuvier dissected her genitalia and brains and made a plaster cast of her body which were then placed on public display at the Musée de l’Homme (Museum of Mankind) in Paris as late as 1974, under the name “Hottentot Venus“. Baartman was one of many other skeletons, whose remains were gathered by European scientists to prove the “inherent inferiority” of non-white individuals.
Baartman was born during a period of Dutch colonization in South Africa and was a descendant of the Khoikhoi people, derogatorily referred to by white colonists as the Hottentots, which meant “stutterer” or “stammerer” in the colonists’ northern dialect of Dutch. The Khoikhoi were considered “missing links” between humans and apes in racist scientific arguments because of their hunter-gatherer lifestyles and unusual speech patterns, which the Dutch dismissed as guttural animal sounds.
Baartman was a slave of Dutch farmers who lost her husband and family during a raid to exterminate the Khoikhoi people. The brother of her slave owner conceived the “Hottentot Venus” show and suggested she travel to England for exhibition, promising her that she would become wealthy. The “Hottentot Venus” show would capitalize on the lustful interests in so-called primitive sexuality, described in the tall-tale accounts of explorers who fabricated stories of “Hottentot” women’s over-sized buttocks and mysterious “Hottentot apron,” an extra flap of skin covering the vaginal area.
(Photo: Wikipedia)Baartman arrived in London in September 1810 and was billed as the “most correct specimen of her race.” The “Hottentot Venus” exhibition was instantly popular and inspired bawdy ballads and political cartoons, demonstrating how the icon of the “Hottentot Venus” became a fixture in the culture. This image created a fetish out of her backside and possibly served as the basis for a major fashion development with the mid-to-late nineteenth century bustle, which gave the illusion of a large bottom.
In 1814, Baartman relocated to Paris and attracted the attention of three revered natural scientists, including George Cuvier. The following year, Baartman was subjected to scientific observations; she was an alcoholic and the scientists enticed her with alcohol and sweets to pose nude. Baartman refused to reveal what they had hoped to witness: a view of her “Hottentot apron”.
(Photo: Mail and Guardian On-Line)Within a year, though, Baartman died and Cuvier acquired her body, using it to write his 1817 scientific thesis unveiling the mystery of her “apron” and illustrating the African woman’s “primitive sexual appetite” and their oversexed and subhuman status. Cuvier noted in his monograph that Baartman was an intelligent woman who had an excellent memory and spoke Dutch fluently. Her skeleton, preserved genitals and brain were then placed on display in Paris.
When Nelson Mandela became president of South Africa in 1994, he formally requested that France return Baartman’s remains. Her remains were repatriated to her homeland, the Gamtoos Valley, in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, on May 6, 2002, over 200 years after her birth.
“The story of Sarah Baartman is the story of the African people,” President Thabo Mbeki said at the funeral. “It is the story of the loss of our ancient freedom … It is the story of our reduction to the state of objects who could be owned, used and discarded by others.”
Be sure to check out the reference links below for more information.
The Life and Times of S. Baartman, The Return of S. Baartman
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Concrete Loop will feature ‘Black History Spotlights’ each week. These features honor black people through the years and submissions are welcome.
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i read about her on the internet a bout 2 years ago and it was sad. the person who signed for her to go to paris regretted his decision because he knew later what the intentions of the white man were. it also claimed she died a penniless alcoholic. the rest of the story was not included. i never knew she was put on display after death. that is sick. as i listened to the woman tell sara’s story and aftetward have a slidshow, i saw one picture of a slave with horrible scars on her back from many beatings. ironicly this same photo is on my wall in my bedroom as i type this. my husband got it out of one of my books called “slave narratives” which is true stories told to an interviewer by former slaves. this picture is in the book. we are now degarding each other for a dollar. it sounds great and dandy when we see black women with money who got it from degrading themselves. we think the money will compensate for self hatred. we learned how to disrespect and degrade ourselves from white people. now the cycle keeps going. we can’t blame white america anymore. black men constantly disrespect black women on a daily basis. black women disrespect each other as well. we also condone this behavior. we blame the black man’s shortcomings on the black woman and that is why black men will not “man” up. i once heard a man say american men do not respect their women so why should we foreign men respect them?? sad but a true comment.
I believe that the word Hottie has its orgin with the description Hottentot..you know the saddest part of this is that people still refuse to accept people of color as equals…
The word “hottie” has it’s orgins in hottenhot…the saddest part is that people still to this day think of people of color as less than human….
I’ve heard of Ms Baartman before..I was researching the african-american woman’s struggles through slavery..and link to her history came up. I was moved then..and I was moved again just now. This story is a very important one that needed to be shared. keep up the GREAT work CL!
i cried when i saw this video i am still in shock…I just can’t not believe this….wow..I am glad that J. had posted this post so i can me more aware of black American history. thanks
THIS WAS FABULOUS! I AM SO INTRIGUED BY HER STORY AND THE WAY IT WAS PRESENTED! THE NARRATOR WAS SO GOOD! I WILL PASS THIS ON!
PEACE!
WE GOT A LONG WAY TO GO! I LOVE THAT SOME BROTHERS AND SISTERS ARE DÏGGÍN DÊÈP ON THÍS PAINFUL PART OF OUR EXÎSTENCE . OUR SISTER SAARTJE MAY HAVE BEEN THE FIRST BÜT SHE DAMN SURE WASN’T THE LAST! AS A YOUNG KID I HAD BIG DREAMS OF GOING TO HOLLYWOOD AND BECOMING A “STAR”(A SINGER&ACTRESS W/MÓRALS) LIKE A FEW OF MY FAMILY MEMBERS ARE. ÎSH! GOD KNOWS AND KNEW BEST!! MEN OFTEN HOUND ME TO BE AN EXOTIC DANCER ETC…..DAYTONA BEACH& MIAMÎ USED TO BE MURDER FOR ME! WOW! THIS TOPIC EVOKES SO MUCH FROM WITHIN!!
People talk about “video vixens” and how black women are being protrayed in hip hop videos….as with drugs, porn, food and a kazillion other things..SUPPLY and DEMAND!!!…If these dumb azz braods would stop with the “booty shots” and all this other foolishness then “they” the men (boys) would’nt be able to exploit women for their own personal gain…It takes to to tango!!!
i just finally got to watch this video thats really sad
. its real in humane how BlCK americans get treated especially women and then tossed around like there nothing, especially back in those times, that day & age
Yay conreteloop for this expose. This is an essential story to African history and African American history and sets the foundation for contemporary perceptions of the black woman and their bodies.
Gives me the chills.
absolutely disgusting!! This post is much appreciated, but made me angry @ the white man….my how times have (or haven’t) changed…
So glad you posted this. I always make references to her when talking about images of Black women today.
This is the first I heard of this and I am shocked and amazed at the things that people can do to one another. I hate that some of these videos have to exploit black women the way that they do.
Big Props to you CL for these informational blogs. Keep ‘em comin’. I hope that you don’t stop doing this. I love this.
I saw this some time ago… I hope she haunts whomever put her on display like that!
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I seen this a few weeks prior. And I must say this is the type of thing they don’t teach you in school nor BET. Now we all know where “Freak Nic” got it’s name.
I seem to remeber hearing about similar remains of a young african teenage girls genitalia at our Smithsonian Museum. Can anybody verify that for me?
DEEP…
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I’ll will not forget Sarah Bartmann. Thanks for posting this. DON”T FORGET TO VOTE OBAMA EVERYONE!!
Please inform the blogger “Dame” This was by any means was to be “Cute” What world is that person on, A MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE .
White people are even more sick than I thought. That’s why they wish they were us. Envious of everything we are. I’m even more sad for white people. They can’t obtain it and having kids with us will never get them what they want. Ha!!!!
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Peace to everyone, I’m shocked to have learned about this. I’ve majored in pan-African/Africana/Diasporic studies at a well established university and have never come close to hearing about this. That is an Absolutely Savage thing that they did to her. Which other woman in this world has even been so vilely disrespected? “long centuries buried in a musty vault, washed down daily with a gagging perfume…” But Don’t Dwell in the past, learn from it and Define your pathways to the future. “Find your connections, then define your direction.”
I’d like to share a few things that were of value and that I insist everyone reading should take into account. It’s up to A People to share their history and identity. They should not allow and/or wait for another People to tell HIStory correctly and without bias…
Remember, words ARE powerful.
Slavery was started [and lasted] through the usage of propaganda by the opressor and his People, and through the usage of false-alliance in addition to divide and conquer methodologies used on the oppressed Peoples indigenous to (so-called) Africa as well as the (so-called) Americas.
Baartman was not a slave to any Dutch person. She was a free woman of God who was *EN-slaved by a Dutchman. Slavery was a condition that was placed UPON her (and upon hundreds of millions of [Aborigines & Diasporic] African men women and children over the course of centuries).
Also, the word tribe needs to be discarded and properly REplaced with *Ethnic Group, or *People(s). Tribe is a racialized term that conjures up prejudice imagery. Were the colonists not “tribe-like” in their conquest of Africa’s and America’s land and resources?
Lastly, Baartman wasn’t “an alcoholic.” Rather, alcoholism was her condition..and NOT her being. The alcohol abuse was much likely because she was depressed from such humiliation. And seeing as she was EN-slaved by a bunch of brutes, i’m certain she was in no position to “order a drink” as it’s implicitly worded. Let’s call it like it is, she was sexually abused and much likely forced to consume alcohol in order diminish her inhibition. She was desecrated at the hands of racists, and kept on display for 4x -5x the amount of time that she was ever able to even claim being alive.
All People MUST know and own their history and their identity. The descendants of all enslaved Peoples must seek, find and reclaim what has been lost to them…and plot their future course.
Black stars keep shining
Everyone is mentioning the money, but I hope everyone’s remembering/realizing the point about their money that is being made here.
