Ill Repute

In 1809, Sarah Baartman, an indentured servant from South Africa, was smuggled into England. She was put on display as the "Hottentot Venus" in Picadilly Square. Dressed in an elaborate costume of next to nothing, she sang and danced, while European onlookers gawked. Abolitionists at the time, saw her treatment as nothing more than trafficking and slavery, which had recently been outlawed in Britain and it's colonies. Sarah Baartman became the first test case of the new laws, and her celebrity was launched into the stratosphere. In our second and final installment on Sarah Baartman we trace her rise to fame and the tragedy that struck after.  Sources:  African Queen: The Real Life of the Hottentot Venus, by Rachel Holmes From The Venus Sickness To The Hottentot Venus by Mansell Upham: https://mansellupham.wordpress.com/2019/08/13/from-the-venus-sickness-to-the-hottentot-venus-saartje-baartman-the-3-men-in-her-life-alexander-dunlop-hendrik-caesar-jean-riaux/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hottentot_(racial_term