Today's post comes from the Oct 2016 edition of The Washingtonian In the Early 1900s, Albino African-American Brothers Were Stolen From Their Virginia Home to Be Circus Performers. This Is Their Story. Their music briefly became famous, but today their history is mostly forgotten. In an excerpt from her book Truevine, Beth Macy resurrects their mother’s fight to free … [Read more...] about Friday Open Thread: Remember Them
History
Thursday Open Thread: Remember Them
Sarah Baartman (also spelled Sara, sometimes in the diminutive form Saartje) (before 1790 – 29 December 1815), was the most well known of at least two South African Khoikhoi women who, due to their large buttocks, were exhibited as freak show attractions in 19th-century Europe under the name Hottentot Venus—"Hottentot" was the then current name for the Khoi people, now … [Read more...] about Thursday Open Thread: Remember Them
Wednesday Open Thread: Remember Them
Ota Benga (c. 1883 – March 20, 1916) was a Congolese man, a Mbuti pygmy known for being featured in an anthropology exhibit at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1904, and in a human zoo exhibit in 1906 at the Bronx Zoo. Benga had been purchased from African slave traders by the missionary and anthropologist Samuel Phillips Verner, a businessman … [Read more...] about Wednesday Open Thread: Remember Them
Tuesday Open Thread: Remember Them
She was presented to the American public as a medical and historical anomaly. She first came to eyes of the world via the circus of Phineas Taylor Barnum, who had her in his traveling show as one of his curiosities. Joice Heth (the spelling varies, from Joice Heith, to Joyce Heath), was exhibited in the circus of Barnum during the 1830s. In 1835, the 25-year-old Barnum, who … [Read more...] about Tuesday Open Thread: Remember Them
Wednesday Open Thread: African-American Bodybuilders and Powerlifters
Kenneth "Flex" Wheeler (born August 23, 1965) is an American IFBB professional bodybuilder. He won the Arnold Classic then-record four times and was once described by Arnold Schwarzenegger as one of the greatest bodybuilders he had ever seen. Ronnie Coleman said that Wheeler was the best bodybuilder he competed against. … [Read more...] about Wednesday Open Thread: African-American Bodybuilders and Powerlifters