JOICE HETH

'Joice Heth' (c.1756–February 19, 1836Museum of Hoaxes.) was an African American slave. Toward the end of her life, in 1835, blind and almost completely paralyzed (she could talk, and had some ability to move her right arm),^[1] she was purchased by P.T. BarnumThe University of Virginia American Studies page on Heth who began his career as a showman by exhibiting her, claiming her to have been the nurse of George Washington,^[2] and to be over a hundred and sixty years old, all of which he may have believed himself.^[3] She died the next year; probably her actual age at the time of her death was no more than 80 years.
As a traveling exhibit for Barnum, Heth told stories about "little George" and sang a hymn.^[4]

Contents

See also

Notes

References

See also

★ Human zoo

Notes

1. Benton
2. "P.T. Barnum", ''Britannica'' Eleventh Edition mentions the claim to have been nurse of George Washington and lists his exhibiting her as the first significant event in Barnum's career.
3. See Benton's account.
4. The University of Virginia American Studies page on Heth cites this to Phineas T. Barnum, ''Barnum's Own Story'' ed. Waldo R. Browne. (Massachusetts: Peter Smith, 1972) 49. Eric Lott claims that Heth earned the impresario ,500/week, a princely sum in that era.Lott 1993.

References

★ "P.T. Barnum", ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Eleventh Edition.

★ Joel Benton, ''Life of Hon. Phineas T. Barnum'', Edgewood Publishing, 1891. Gutenberg edition accessed online 8 April 2007. The most detailed of these accounts, including information about Barnum's purchase of Heth, a detailed description of her appearance, how Barnum exhibited her, etc.

★ Lott, Eric. ''Love and Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993. ISBN 0-19-507832-2. p.76–78

★ Joice Heth, Museum of Hoaxes. Accessed online 8 April 2007.

★ Joice Heth, part of a University of Virginia American Studies Department site about Barnum. Accessed online 8 April 2007.