Why Is Saartjie Baartman's Story Lost In History?

Saartjie Baartman illustration
Shonda Buchanan
August 6, 2020

The dirty brocade stage curtain flung open as she gripped the cold bars of her cage. Sweat dripped down her half-naked body, but there was nothing she could do! 

The audience’s slurred catcalls filled her ears while she cried for her freedom! 

She had been tricked into signing a contract she couldn't read! Who had done this, and why?

Enslaved by a Dutch trader who coerced her into signing it, this bogus contract permitted the display of Saartjie “Sara” Baartman in a cage - the main attraction for a circus, exhibited throughout Europe like an animal!

But her humiliation didn’t stop there.

Dumbstruck, stupid white scientists measured her ample buttocks and studied her skin! Patrons paid to abuse her sexually.

When would she be freed from this ongoing evil?

Never - this poor, Black woman from the South African Khoikhoi peoples remained caged until her death.

But even then, sick scientists had wicked plans for her lifeless body!

A racist French zoologist DISSECTED her body and sold her organs. Her pickled brain and genitals remained on display at the Musée de l'Homme (Museum of Man) until 1974. 

We must keep the legacy of Saartjie "Sara" Baartman alive and fight against sexualized, violent and hateful language, stereotypes, and acts of racism and misogyny against Black women and girls!

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