AFRICAN & BLACK HISTORY Profile picture
Feb 15 10 tweets 3 min read Read on X
Sarah Saartjie Baartman was cruelly exploited in Europe by being exhibited as a freak show attraction because of her protruding butt. After her death, her body was displayed in a Paris museum for over 100yrs.

The exploitation of Sarah Baartman.

A THREAD! Image
SARAH "Saarjte" Baartman of the khoikhoi people of South Africa was born in 1789 and was one of 2 women put on display as a "FREAK SHOW" act in England and then later France. Image
The men who promised her a life of pride in sharing her culture with the World tricked her, and though she was given pay she often was at the expense of verbal, sexual, and physical abuse. Image
You see the HOTTENTOT VENUS (Hottentot is very derogatory) had a very distinct look, because the women of her people had extremely large buttocks, and an abnormally elongated labia.
Nude photos of khoikhoi women with steatopygia were collected by white colonialists. Steatopygia is the accumulation of large amounts of fat on the buttocks, especially as a normal condition in the Khoikhoi of Southern Africa. Image
She was made to wear a coloured skin tight outfit revealing what was to be a naked black woman for the paying public to inspect, view, and allegedly at times for extra coin... have a "Private Showing".
When sold to another manager, she was taken to France where she was forced to perform at private parties in homes of the most affluent and wealthy, with the final act being an invitation to the party attendees to approach, touch, feel, and inspect a laid down SARAH'S GENITALS
She was to be later handed off to medical professionals who drew the details of her body. She died penniless from diseases in Paris, as a sex slave in 1815.
Her body had a molded cast made, her brain & pelvic bone put in PRESERVING JARS with her flesh & corpse being discarded. Image
Her remains were finally reclaimed by South Africa, and was given a ceremonial burial in 2002 (187 years later after her death). SARAH never saw her homeland again... Only parts of her body in death Image
If you love my content though sometimes triggering, You can support my history page/project here through donations/tips to keep up on: africanarchives.supportImage

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More from @AfricanArchives

Feb 13
Most people have heard or used the term UNCLE TOM when we refer to a sell-out, but did you know that the inference is totally wrong.

The real Uncle Tom was a hero, Josiah Henson, was an abolitionist who helped slaves escape among other great things #BlackHistoryMonth

A THREAD! Image
Josiah Henson was born into slavery in 1789 in Charles County, Maryland. Growing up he watched his father receive beatings for standing up to his slave owner and also witnessed his father's ear being severed as part of the punishment and also his father being sold off. Image
Upon the death of his owner, Henson was also separated from his family in an estate sale. He remained on his new owner's farm in Montgomery County, Maryland, until he was an adult. As he aged he rose to become a trusted enslaved and supervised other enslaved people on the farm.
Read 8 tweets
Feb 11
George Stinney Jr., was the youngest person executed in the US in the 20th century. He was so small they had to stack books on the electric chair.

Due to no evidence, his conviction was vacated 70 years after his execution! #BlackHistoryMonth  

A THREAD! Image
George was accused of killing two white missing girls, 11-Year-old Betty and 7-year-old Mary, their bodies were found near the house where he lived with his parents in Alcolu, South Carolina march 1944.
The sheriff arrested George and his brother John (later released), because he claimed that George confessed and led officers to the 'place where he hid the murder weapon'. His father was fired from his job at a local sawmill and ordered to vacate the company house. Image
Read 7 tweets
Feb 9
Did you know Martin Luther King Jr's Mother and his Brother were also murdered? #BlackHistoryMonth

Martin Luther King’s mother, Alberta King, was assassinated while in church. 6 years after her son was gunned down in Memphis.

Alfred Daniel King, brother to MLK, mysteriously died in a swimming pool, 15 months after his brother’s assassination.Image
On June 30, 1974, Alberta King had just finished playing "The Lord's Prayer" on the organ at Ebenezer Baptist when a man shouted, "I'm taking over here!" A young black man bolted to the pulpit and pulled out a gun. The man, later identified as Marcus Wayne Chenault Jr. of Ohio, fired his gun, hitting Alberta King, church deacon Edward Boykin and congregation member Jimmie Mitchell. Mrs. King and Boykin were taken to the hospital where they pronounced dead. Mrs. King was 69-years-old. The attack occurred less than 100 yards from where her son was buried. Chenault said he was on a mission to kill all Christians and his original target was MLK Sr., considering black pastors a threat to black people. He claimed insanity in his trial but was convicted and sentenced to death in the electric chair. His sentence was later changed to life in prison, due in part to the wishes of the surviving members of the King family, who opposed capital punishment. Chenault died in prison in 1995 at age 44.Image
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Alfred Daniel Williams was found 15 months after his brother's assassination drowned in his own swimming pool. Although he was known as an excellent swimmer. King was active in the civil rights movement fighting for voting and equal rights. Along with being a pastor at a church in Louisville, Kentucky.

King was in a room below when his brother Martin was gunned down as he stood on a second-floor balcony at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis on April 4, 1968.
After his brother's death, A.D. King was heard saying in a conversation overhead by his daughter Alveda King, said: "They killed my brother. I'm gonna find out who did it."Image
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Read 4 tweets
Feb 8
The Battle of Bamber Bridge, 1943.

Racist US military police attacked black US troops on British soil.

US military authorities demanded the town’s pubs impose a colour bar, the local landlords responded with signs that read “Black Troops Only” which pissed them off.

A THREAD Image
In 1943 Black American soldiers faced off with white American Military police during World War 2 on British soil. Black American soldiers had to fight their own white American soldiers, while in England, where they were fighting the world war.
Why? Because the town, Bamber Bridge in Lancashire wasnt segregated so they treated the black soldiers like all other races, BUT back in America segregation still existed so essentially the American army went to someone else’s country & demanded they adopt their racist practices Image
Read 9 tweets
Feb 6
Job Maseko, a WW2 hero, sank a NAZI ship with a bomb made from a tin can with condensed milk. He was denied the highest military decoration, due to his race.

A THREAD! Image
Maseko was working as a delivery driver when he volunteered for service in the South African Native Military Corps during WWII (NMC). Later he was sent to the 2nd South African Infantry Division after finishing basic training in North Africa. Image
Due to South African race regulations at the time, they were unable to carry firearms. They were only allowed traditional weapons such as spears for guard and ceremonial duty. Image
Read 8 tweets
Feb 4
In Louisiana, black women were put in cells with male prisoners and some became pregnant

All children born in the penitentiary became property of the state

At 10 years they would be auctioned off. The proceeds were used to fund schools for white kids #BlackHistoryMonth

THREAD Image
Before the Civil War, most prisoners in the South were white. The punishment of enslaved African Americans was generally left up to their owners. Louisiana, however, did imprison enslaved people for "serious" crimes, generally involving acts of rebellion against the slave system.
A number of these imprisoned slaves were women. Penitentiary records show a number of women imprisoned for "assaulting a white," arson, or attempting to poison someone, most likely their enslavers.
Read 7 tweets

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