The Butt That Everyone Wanted To See — Part I
“The Hottentot Venus just arrived from the interior of Africa; The Greatest Phenomenon ever exhibited in this country; whose stay in the Metropolis will be but short.”
This is a story of racism. This is a story of Sarah Baartman.
(PC- The Trustees of the British Museum.)
Sarah Baartman, a member of the Khoe people, was born in the Eastern Cape frontier of the Cape Colony in South Africa in 1789, when it was a Dutch colony. Later, she was pejoratively renamed Saartjie (Dutch for "little Sarah"). Her actual name is not known.
European colonial explorers sent reports from their African travels, describing Khoe women as having elongated labia, a lethargic demeanor, and a fondness for smoking pipes.
Carl Linnaeus, the father of modern taxonomy, classified the tribe as “Homo Sapiens Monstrous”.
Baartman and her family were initially employed as servants on a Dutch colonist’s farm. She was eventually sold to Peter Cezar, a free black man who worked as a servant in Cape Town. Following this, she moved in with Peter’s brother, Hendrik, to serve as a wet nurse.
Hendrik Cezar began bringing her to Cape Town’s military hospital, where she would entertain sailors, enabling him to earn money to settle his debts. The exact nature of the performance remains uncertain.
Alexander Dunlop, a Scottish military doctor, recognized the potential for profit in Baartman’s captivating performances and the European fascination with Africans. With her renowned talents, he proposed that Baartman accompany him to England. Strangely, she insisted on Cezar accompanying her as well.
In the spring of 1810, Baartman, along with Dunlop, Cezar, and a young black boy, embarked on the HMS Diadem for this journey.
In England
It’s essential to note that during this time, England and other European nations displayed a wide range of items, including botanical specimens, animal pelts, and even human curiosities, in museums, scientific societies, and freak shows, making them accessible to people of all social classes.
Dunlop aimed to capitalize on the European fascination with such exhibitions by bringing Baartman to England.
Hottentot Venus
Venus, the Roman goddess, had a wide range of attributes, including love, beauty, desire, sexuality, fertility, prosperity, and victory. To the curious audience, Saartjie, known as Venus, symbolized sensuality and allure. Her very presence or mention of her name stirred thoughts of desire and love.
"Hottentot" was a term used during the colonial era to refer to the indigenous Khoikhoi people of southwestern Africa. It is now generally considered offensive. The term "Hottentot" represented something exotic, unsettling, foreign, and fantasy of African hypersexuality.
Some in the crowd had encountered tales of enigmatic Hottentot women with reputedly prominent buttocks, elongated labia, and a penchant for smoking. Saartjie personified this fantasy, bathed in golden stage light, bridging the vivid myths of Hottentot and Venus.
Her skin-tight, flesh-toned attire left no doubt that she wore no corset, stockings, or undergarments underneath. Most notably, the radiant strands of ivory-colored ostrich-eggshell beads that draped from her neck to her waist failed to conceal her prominent nipples beneath the delicate silk fabric.
The Exhibition
By the summer's end, a caricatured portrayal of Baartman adorned shopfronts, street corners, and newsstands throughout London. The image depicted her in profile, accentuating her notably large, high, and round buttocks.
The initial performance occurred at 225 Piccadilly, a part of the city where Londoners sought out "freak shows" and exhibitions to encounter the peculiarities and novelties of an ever-expanding world.
Each daily show commenced in the same manner. Baartman would step out from behind a plush curtain onto a three-foot-high stage at the front of a well-lit room. Her attire consisted solely of a tight, skin-toned body stocking, with her nipples clearly visible through the fabric.
"She is dressed in a color as close to her skin tone as possible. The dress is designed to showcase her entire body, and spectators are even encouraged to observe her distinctive features.", described the London Times.
To enhance her "African" appearance, the producers adorned her with ostrich-eggshell beads, jingling bracelets, and ostrich feather cuffs, items brought from Africa that weren't all of Khoikhoi origin.
Following her daily appearances at Piccadilly, she would be transported to the opulent homes of affluent Londoners. There, she would showcase her physique in elaborate sitting rooms, even performing and singing for dukes and lords.
During her off-duty hours, Baartman worked as a domestic servant alongside two African boys, assisting with cooking and cleaning.
It wasn't long before newspapers started to document Baartman's increasing distress and agitation during her shows.
Abolitionist’s Attempt to Save Her
British abolitionist Zachary Macaulay called her “a foreigner, and a female, too, in worse than Egyptian bondage.”
The so-called "good guys" were not entirely virtuous, as they deemed themselves morally superior, but they were still comparatively better than the "bad guys."
As her performances continued, public debates erupted in newspapers. The central questions revolved around Baartman’s status: Was she truly free, or was she in a state of enslavement?
The trial began on November 24, 1810, but Baartman didn’t attend. Her defenders, the abolitionist group known as the African Institution, feared she might be dressed inappropriately, and finding a translator for her "low Dutch" language (Afrikaans) was uncertain.
While the court was in session, she was performing to a packed audience in Piccadilly, unable to participate in the proceedings that would determine her fate.
Baartman provided testimony in her residence, adorned in elegant European attire. During the examination, she shared details about her upbringing, her father’s passing, and her encounters with Dunlop and Caesars.
Baartman expressed contentment with her life in England, expressing her fondness for the country. She was compensated by her employers and had no desire to return home. The trial notes recorded that a notary from the state inquired if she had a preference between returning to the Cape of Good Hope or staying in England, to which she replied, "Stay here."
The court concluded that Baartman "was not in any form of restraint and was content with her life in England." Due to the considerable media attention generated by the trial, her performances remained popular and sold out throughout the winter. After the details of her alleged financial arrangement with Dunlop were disclosed, the cartoon illustrations of her now featured additional elements: heaps of gold and bags of money.
(PC- British Library Board.)
Over the next three years, she toured Britain.
From there she moved to France which will be in Part II which you can read here.
Sources
- The Life and Times of Sarah Baartman — Zola Maseko
- Butts — Heather Radke
- Black Girls in Paris — Salamishah Tillet
- The Hottentot Venus — Rachel Holmes
- Sara Baartman and the Hottentot Venus — Clifton Crais & Pamela Scull
