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Further into Imperfecta Living Curiosities: Agency and Exploitation of the Teratological Body Curiosity draws us to the monstrous. But seeing is believing: whether in a book, a museum, or in a show, for centuries people have flocked to see “monsters” for themselves. In the 19th century, many people born with non-normative bodies performed as “freaks” in circus sideshows. Circuses became a sensation and they served as a forerunner to the modern entertainment industry. This exhibit explores the lives of the performers and showmen whose livelihoods depended on the public’s curiosity about seeing wondrous bodies for themselves. Seeing is Believing: Visualizing the Teratological Body When it comes to the wondrous, seeing is believing. From this page, you can explore some of the ways that “monsters” have been depicted over the centuries. Woodcuts in early modern texts, preservation in medical museums, and photography all have been used to display people. These technologies allowed one person’s image to travel across the world and allowed their subjects to “survive” beyond death. What Does It Mean to be "Other?" What does it mean to be a “monster?” What does it mean to be “normal?” These are not objective categories. They have changed meaning throughout history as people have become exposed to a wider diversity of nature, people, and ideas. From this path, you can explore some types of “Otherness” that have, throughout history, challenged apparently objective categories and shaped the direction of science.

Dual Lives - The McKoy Sisters

Perhaps no persons better characterized the dual nature of the life of a sideshow performer, the possibility of agency and exploitation, than Millie and Christine McKoy, known as the “Carolina Twins.” The twins were born into slavery in North Carolina in 1851. When they were just 10 months old, their owner, a blacksmith named Jabez McKay, made a contractual agreement for their exhibition with John Pervis. Pervis exhibited the girls shortly before selling them once again to Joseph Pearson Smith. Possibly accompanied by their mother, Monemia, Smith exhibited them at the first North Carolina State Fair in 1853 to great success, before being conned into selling them to another man, at which point they were separated from their mother and siblings.

Due to the duplicitous nature of his acquisition, their new owner did not display them publicly at first, instead showing them only to scientists and physicians for a fee. In 1854, when the twins were just three years old, they were exhibited publicly at Barnum’s American Museum for the first time, launching their performance career. Due to the exploitative nature of their relationship to their owner, they received none of the revenue from these performances. The twins traveled to England, where Smith and Monemia caught up with and reclaimed the pair. Millie and Christine’s life of forced exhibition continued until the Emancipation Proclamation ended their slave status in 1863.

Afterwards, Millie and Christine used their performances to enrich their lives, both financially and intellectually. Smith provided them with an education, and they learned five languages. The twins learned to perform piano duets with accompanying vocal harmonies, earning them the moniker, “The Two-Headed Nightingale.” They continued to tour extensively with Barnum’s Traveling Circus, this time earning their share of the profits, even going so far as to see themselves as the main providers for their own family as well as Smith’s. This new agency meant the twins could now refuse to be subjected to frequent medical examinations, which they found to be invasive and humiliating.

The image to the right, taken for the Photographic Review of Medicine under coercion, is redacted here to honor the wishes of Mille and Christine McKoy. Scholar Izetta Autumn Mobley discussed this, and many of the other complicated issues surrounding the lives of Mille and Christine and their representations, in her presentation Troublesome Properties at our symposium, Of Marvels and Medicine in March of 2018.

This page has paths:

Contents of this path:
1. Charles Byrne - A Public Sensation
2. Chang and Eng and Barnum Many of us associate the name “P.T. Barnum” with the circus. But before Barnum began the circus, he ran a museum. Barnum’s American Museum opened in New York City in 1841. The museum was home to many types of oddities, and many people with non-normative bodies found their way to the stage of the lecture hall in Barnum’s American Museum. Two of these performers might be familiar to you if you have visited the Mütter Museum: Chang and Eng Bunker.
3. Tom Thumb and the Traveling Circus
6. The End of the Show
Contents of this path:
1. The "Hottentot Venus" Saartje Baartman (sometimes called Sarah Baartman) was born in South Africa in 1789. At the age of 21, she was brought to England by her employer who wanted to display her for profit on the stages of London. Baartman’s body was considered wondrous because of the large size of her pudenda and she was called the “Hottentot Venus.” “Hottentot” was the Dutch colonial term for the Khoi people and “Venus” referred to the Roman goddess of love.
3. "Freak Shows"
4. The Perils of Reform
6. The End of the Show

This page references:

Double Headed Girl [Carolina Twins, Born July 11 1851]