Some Interesting Events in Freakshow History
1810: Hottentot Venus (Sara Baartman) brought to Europe to be exhibited. Her show begins the trend of the ethnic human exhibition spectacle, which gains popularity in the western world.
1815: Sara Baartman dies of illness, possibly smallpox, syphilis, or tuberculosis. After finding herself unable to return to Africa, she fell into depression and a life of prostitution and alcoholism.
1837: Waring, Raymond and Co. becomes the first circus to also advertise as a menagerie and museum of freaks.
1841: P. T. Barnum becomes the proprietor of the American Museum in New York City, at the corner of Broadway and Ann Street. He purchases and exhibits his first attraction: Joice Heth, the suposidly 161-year-old nurse of George Washington. The museum brings the “freak show” to prominence in the American popular amusement industry.
1859: Darwin’s "On the Origin of Species" published.
1860: At the heights of the debates over evolution and slavery, Barnum displays his first Black-skinned “freak”: Zip the What is it? Barnum dressed Zip in a furry black suit and billed him as a “missing link.”
1868: P. T. Barnum’s American Museum burns to the ground. It has hosted over forty million visitors since its founding. Barnum retires, though his name is used in several traveling shows that would eventually be founded.
1880: Coney Island starts its own freak show. As of 2013, the act is still ongoing.
1903: Letter of complaint published by the New York World signed by representatives of the Barnum and Bailey Sideshow, addressed to James A. Bailey. It protested the use of the word “Freak” used in the advertisements of the slideshow hall.
1908: “Circus and Museum Freaks, Curiosities of Pathology,” the first scientific publication to condemn freak shows, appears in the journal, Scientific American.
1931 (September 18): Michigan bans the exhibition of “deformed human beings” in the act: 750.347 Deformed human beings; exhibition. Michigan is only one of a small handful of states that have outright banned freak shows, most states in the US still permit them.
1932: Tod Browning’s film Freaks was released. Using real-life “freaks” as many of its principle actors, this film was notable for presenting them in a sympathetic light. Though it failed at the box office and received many vehemently negative reviews, its revival in 1962 has since turned it into a cult classic.
1984: Otis Jordan, the “Frog Man,” is prohibited from exhibiting himself at the New York State Fair as a part of Sutton’s Slideshow when a concerned citizen protested that Jordan was being exploited. Jordan resents the concern.
1815: Sara Baartman dies of illness, possibly smallpox, syphilis, or tuberculosis. After finding herself unable to return to Africa, she fell into depression and a life of prostitution and alcoholism.
1837: Waring, Raymond and Co. becomes the first circus to also advertise as a menagerie and museum of freaks.
1841: P. T. Barnum becomes the proprietor of the American Museum in New York City, at the corner of Broadway and Ann Street. He purchases and exhibits his first attraction: Joice Heth, the suposidly 161-year-old nurse of George Washington. The museum brings the “freak show” to prominence in the American popular amusement industry.
1859: Darwin’s "On the Origin of Species" published.
1860: At the heights of the debates over evolution and slavery, Barnum displays his first Black-skinned “freak”: Zip the What is it? Barnum dressed Zip in a furry black suit and billed him as a “missing link.”
1868: P. T. Barnum’s American Museum burns to the ground. It has hosted over forty million visitors since its founding. Barnum retires, though his name is used in several traveling shows that would eventually be founded.
1880: Coney Island starts its own freak show. As of 2013, the act is still ongoing.
1903: Letter of complaint published by the New York World signed by representatives of the Barnum and Bailey Sideshow, addressed to James A. Bailey. It protested the use of the word “Freak” used in the advertisements of the slideshow hall.
1908: “Circus and Museum Freaks, Curiosities of Pathology,” the first scientific publication to condemn freak shows, appears in the journal, Scientific American.
1931 (September 18): Michigan bans the exhibition of “deformed human beings” in the act: 750.347 Deformed human beings; exhibition. Michigan is only one of a small handful of states that have outright banned freak shows, most states in the US still permit them.
1932: Tod Browning’s film Freaks was released. Using real-life “freaks” as many of its principle actors, this film was notable for presenting them in a sympathetic light. Though it failed at the box office and received many vehemently negative reviews, its revival in 1962 has since turned it into a cult classic.
1984: Otis Jordan, the “Frog Man,” is prohibited from exhibiting himself at the New York State Fair as a part of Sutton’s Slideshow when a concerned citizen protested that Jordan was being exploited. Jordan resents the concern.
Referenced:
Adams, Rachel. Slideshow U.S.A. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2001.
Boetsch, Gilles, et al., ed. Human Zoos: The Invention of the Savage. Paris: Actes Sud, 2012.
Bogdan, Robert. Freak Show: Presenting Human Oddities for Amusement and Profit. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1988.
Circus and Museum Freaks -- Curiosities of Pathology. The New York Medical Journal. March 28, 1908, 222. McGreal, Chris. “Coming Home,” The Guardian, February 20, 2002.
McGreal, Chris. “Coming Home,” The Guardian, February 20, 2002.
Spalding, Julian. “Dead Circuses,” History Workshop Journal 62 (2006): 318-25.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/09/arts/09expl.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Adams, Rachel. Slideshow U.S.A. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2001.
Boetsch, Gilles, et al., ed. Human Zoos: The Invention of the Savage. Paris: Actes Sud, 2012.
Bogdan, Robert. Freak Show: Presenting Human Oddities for Amusement and Profit. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1988.
Circus and Museum Freaks -- Curiosities of Pathology. The New York Medical Journal. March 28, 1908, 222. McGreal, Chris. “Coming Home,” The Guardian, February 20, 2002.
McGreal, Chris. “Coming Home,” The Guardian, February 20, 2002.
Spalding, Julian. “Dead Circuses,” History Workshop Journal 62 (2006): 318-25.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/09/arts/09expl.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0