Joice Heth was living a lie – a damned lie! Like most enslaved women, Heth was at the mercy of her captor. But there was something even more sinister about her situation.
The creator of a so-called “freak” show, the man who enslaved Heth was a liar, a thief, and a con artist. Heth was a small, thin woman, but she was the biggest part of the racist’s show. What she was forced to do was outrageous.
Because of her emaciated, wrinkled appearance, Heth was billed as George Washington’s “161 year old nurse.” Of course, this was physically impossible – because Heth was born almost 20 years AFTER Washington. But that didn’t stop the con artist from launching his entire career from the lie.
The nature of the falsehood made it necessary for Heth to look as old as possible, so her captor starved and mistreated her so she would look the part. When she died, the racist creep sold tickets to her autopsy, exploiting her body until the bitter end!
Though Heth’s tragic story seems so long ago, Black women’s bodies are STILL exploited and stigmatized. We must remember our bodies are beautiful – they belong to US. Anyone who disrespects or tries to capitalize on us must be resisted!