P.T. Barnum, Joice Heth and Antebellum Spectacles of Race

Reiss, Benjamin

doi:10.1353/aq.1999.0013

Cited by 8 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…The foremost scholar on Joice Heth is Benjamin Reiss, and I will mostly be relying on his works to relate her story (Reiss, ; Reiss, ; Reiss, ). There is actually little factual information about Joice Heth before 1835.…”

Section: Joice Hethmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The first time on June 15, 1835, to Coley Bartram, who quickly sold her to R.W. Lindsay, “a hapless showman from Kentucky, who … exhibited her in towns and cities across the South, Ohio, and the mid‐Atlantic states (Reiss, , p. 80). However, Lindsay was apparently not satisfied with his return on investment.…”

Section: Joice Hethmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…… visitors regularly shook hands with her, scrutinized her, and sometimes even took her pulse. (Reiss, , p. 80)After a while, the popularity of her shows had decreased and so Barnum and Lyman sent an anonymous letter to a Boston newspaper alleging that not only was the Heth/George Washington story “a humbug,” that Heth was not even human but was rather an automaton made up of India rubber, whalebone, and a number of springs. This publicity stunt brought the crowds back again, this time to judge whether she was a machine.…”

Section: Joice Hethmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…… visitors regularly shook hands with her, scrutinized her, and sometimes even took her pulse. (Reiss, , p. 80)…”

Section: Joice Hethmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Barnum, and Dr David L. Rogers, the accomplished New York surgeon who Barnum hired to perform Heth's autopsy in front of an audience of 1,500 paying customers in 1836. While there is important, scholarly literature on Joice Heth (Reiss, ; Reiss, ; Reiss, ; McMillan, ; Lueger, ) and a detailed City University of New York Lost Museum web site that exhibits many primary historical sources about her including newspaper transcripts from 1835 to 1836 (Joice Heth Exhibit. –2002), none of this work is accessible via PubMed search.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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How the public autopsy of a slave Joice Heth launched P.T. Barnum's career as the Greatest Showman on Earth

Wright

2018

Clinical Anatomy

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P.T. Barnum's career as the Greatest Showman on Earth began in 1835, when he "leased" and then publically exhibited a frail African American slave Joice Heth, who was reportedly the 161-year-old former nursemaid of George Washington, throughout New England; the contract was a lease, as slave ownership had recently become illegal in northern states. Barnum exhibited Heth 6 days a week for up to 12 hr a day. Under this grueling schedule, Heth became ill and died while under contract. Barnum sold tickets for her autopsy, which was performed by David L. Rogers, an accomplished New York surgeon, in front of an audience of 1,500 paying customers. Roger's autopsy determined that Heth was no more than 80 years old, and the penny newspapers, a new form of public media, called this a "humbug" and then published dozens of fabricated "fake news" stories about Barnum, Rogers, and Heth. Barnum and his business partner generated valuable publicity by telling different penny newspapers different stories. This whole spectacle launched Barnum's career as an entertainer. Five years earlier, Rogers performed a public dissection of Charles Gibbs, an infamous Caribbean pirate who was tried, convicted, and hung in New York City. This article describes the bizarre nature of American politics and culture in the 1830s that made all of these seem normal. I will also distinguish between "public dissection" and "public autopsy," and put these into an historical context. Finally, I will address the macabre concept of autopsy as a form of entertainment. Clin. Anat. 31:956-965, 2018. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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Section: Joice Hethmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Joice Hethmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Joice Hethmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…… visitors regularly shook hands with her, scrutinized her, and sometimes even took her pulse. (Reiss, , p. 80)…”

Section: Joice Hethmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%