Before Nicki Minaj, before Kim Kardashian, before Marilyn Monroe, there was a South African woman whose voluptuous physique captured the European imagination. In 1809, Sarah Baartman an indentured servant to a free Black family in Capetown, caught the attention of a British surgeon. The industrious doctor envisioned a theatrical production to end them all, and make him, Sarah, and her employer rich. In part one of this two part series, we talk about where Sarah came from, and how she went from living in a thatched hut with her family in Camdeboo to performing in the African Theater of the bustling metropolis of Capetown, and two mens' audatious plan to smuggle her out of Africa and into Picadilly Square in London. 

Sources:

African Queen: The Real Life of the Hottentot Venus, by Rachel Holmes

From The Venus Sickness To The Hottentot Venus by Mansell Upham: https://mansellupham.wordpress.com/2019/08/13/from-the-venus-sickness-to-the-hottentot-venus-saartje-baartman-the-3-men-in-her-life-alexander-dunlop-hendrik-caesar-jean-riaux/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hottentot_(racial_term)

https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/baartman-sara-saartjie-1789-1815/

Documentary: https://youtu.be/ELI8nnOM3Bk

Credits:

Script by: Sovereign Syre

Hosted by: Sovereign Syre & Ela Darling

Produced by: Josh Anderson

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