Saartjie Baartman, a Khoisan woman who was displayed in Europe as a spectacle due to her large buttocks.

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The Tragic Life of Sarah Baartman

Sarah Baartman was born in 1780 into the Khoikhoi, a nomadic ethnic group that lived in the eastern region of the Cape Colony, in what is now South Africa. Her given names were Saartjie, Sawtche, or Ssehura, meaning "diminutive form." Standing at just 4 feet 7 inches tall, Sarah’s life was marked by hardship from an early age.

Her mother passed away when she was only two years old, and her father, a cattle driver, died during her teenage years. Sarah’s mother belonged to one of South Africa’s oldest tribes, the Khoikhoi, known for their distinct physical features. Women in the tribe were characterized by lighter skin tones and well-developed hips, which were considered a sign of beauty at the time.

Enslavement and Exploitation

Sarah’s suffering deepened when a Dutch doctor, William Dunlop, purchased her from her employer—an Afrikaans farmer—turning her into a domestic servant in Cape Town. At this time, she had developed steatopygia, a genetic trait common among Khoikhoi women, in which excess fat accumulates on the buttocks and thighs. This characteristic, also found among other Sub-Saharan African groups, Pygmies of Central Africa, and the Onge tribe of the Andaman Islands, made Sarah a subject of European fascination.

Rather than viewing her as a human being, white European colonizers reduced her to a spectacle. Dunlop, who worked for the Royal Navy, used Sarah as both a slave and a sex servant. Along with his associate, Hendrik Cesars—a mixed-race entrepreneur—he took her to London in 1810, renaming her Sarah or Saartjie.

Displayed as a "Freak Show" Attraction

In London, Dunlop and Cesars convinced Sarah that publicly displaying her body would make her wealthy. Trusting them, she agreed. For years, she was forced to participate in freak shows across England and the Netherlands, where she was treated as a mere curiosity.

She was made to walk, stand, sit, or dance on command while crowds gawked at her in fascination, astonishment, disgust, and amusement. Both men and women touched her body without her consent. Meanwhile, scientists and doctors examined her anatomy through a racialized and dehumanizing lens. Some claimed that Sarah suffered from "macronymphia," referring to what they deemed an "abnormality" in her sexual organs—when in reality, it was simply her natural body.

Despite the widespread exploitation, Sarah had supporters. Robert Wedderburn, a Jamaican activist against racism and slavery, formed a group that fought for her rights and pressured the British government to ban such degrading exhibitions. To escape the growing opposition in England, Cesars took Sarah to Paris in 1814, where she was further objectified in circuses and private gatherings. She was given the degrading title of "Hottentot Venus," a term used to exoticize and dehumanize her.

In these private settings, Sarah was coerced into prostitution, becoming a sexual object for the entertainment of wealthy men. At the same time, she became the subject of scientific studies by the famed zoologist Georges Cuvier, who was also Napoleon Bonaparte’s surgeon and director of the French National Museum of Natural History.

Cuvier infamously compared Sarah’s facial features to those of an orangutan and likened her body to that of female mandrills. He perpetuated racist pseudoscience, presenting her as the "missing link" between humans and animals.

Death and Posthumous Exploitation

On December 29, 1815, at the age of 26, Sarah Baartman died in Paris, alone, sick, and humiliated. Reports suggest she suffered from pneumonia, syphilis, and alcoholism. Soon after her death, Cuvier dissected her body, making a plaster cast of her remains and displaying them in Paris. In 1817, he presented his findings to the French Academy of Medicine, reinforcing racist ideas about Black people’s supposed inferiority.

For decades, Sarah’s remains—including her brain, skeleton, and preserved genitalia—were displayed at the Musée de l'Homme in Paris. It wasn't until Nelson Mandela became President of South Africa in 1994 that serious efforts were made to repatriate her remains.

The Fight to Reclaim Her Legacy

Initially, the French government refused to return Sarah’s remains. However, after years of pressure, they finally approved the request in March 2002. On August 9, 2002—192 years after she was taken from her homeland—Sarah Baartman was laid to rest in the Eastern Cape, near her birthplace.

Her story has since been explored in books and films, including the 2010 movie Black Venus and the 1998 documentary The Life and Times of Sara Baartman. Yet, much about her life remains unknown, and the damage inflicted upon her can never be undone.

Sarah Baartman may have been one of the first recorded victims of human trafficking—a stark reminder of the cruelty of colonial exploitation. The least we can do today is to acknowledge her suffering and honor her legacy by speaking the truth.

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