Little Known Black History Fact: Sarah “Saartjie” Baartman - Page 2
There were rumors she fell into squalor and began working as a prostitute to support herself but that has not been proven to be true. Baartman did endure racism and sexism, depicted as abnormal human being and considered nothing more than a zoo animal to patrons and onlookers.
Baartman died December 29, 1815 of an unknown ailment.
French doctors cut her body into pieces, which were preserved and placed display at the Musée de l’Homme in Paris until 1974. South African poet and Khoi woman Diana Ferrus wrote a poem in 1978 referencing Baartman, part of a growing effort to arrange a proper burial for her.
Paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould’s The Hottentot Venus book brought global attention to the matter, and then-South African president Nelson Mandela demanded France return Baartman’s remains to her homeland.
It wasn’t until 2002 that France conceded to the request. Some 200 years after her birth, Baartman’s final resting place is in the town of Hankey, atop a hill.
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