1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:02,840 Speaker 1: Just a quick note before we begin. In order to 2 00:00:02,880 --> 00:00:05,520 Speaker 1: best honor the stories of the people you will meet here, 3 00:00:05,880 --> 00:00:09,920 Speaker 1: this episode features some sensitive material and language about racially 4 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:29,040 Speaker 1: motivated violence. Listener discretion is advised. It's possible that giving 5 00:00:29,160 --> 00:00:31,960 Speaker 1: someone a hand had never been such a bad idea. 6 00:00:32,760 --> 00:00:36,680 Speaker 1: On that April morning of John Hicks Jr. Was hard 7 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:39,840 Speaker 1: at work at the New York Hospital. As one version 8 00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:42,120 Speaker 1: of the story goes, he leaned out the window and 9 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:45,400 Speaker 1: waved to some boys playing below. But it wasn't his 10 00:00:45,479 --> 00:00:48,440 Speaker 1: hand that he gestured with. Instead, he was holding an 11 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:52,880 Speaker 1: entire severed arm, freshly dislodged from its corpse, which lay 12 00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:56,520 Speaker 1: flayed open nearby. The boys climbed up to the window 13 00:00:56,560 --> 00:00:59,920 Speaker 1: on a ladder. Once inside, they had questions, and Hick, 14 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:04,480 Speaker 1: no pun intended, was armed with answers. Ever, the trickster 15 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:07,240 Speaker 1: Hicks tease that the limb belonged to one of the 16 00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:10,839 Speaker 1: boys mothers, and if that wasn't bad enough. What Hicks 17 00:01:10,920 --> 00:01:14,080 Speaker 1: didn't know was this the boy's mother had in fact 18 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:18,039 Speaker 1: recently died. The boy ran off to tell his father, 19 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:21,640 Speaker 1: who was working as a mason nearby. According to some accounts, 20 00:01:21,640 --> 00:01:24,840 Speaker 1: the grieving father was alarmed. He rushed off to his 21 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:28,120 Speaker 1: wife's grave, and sure enough, when they opened her coffin, 22 00:01:28,680 --> 00:01:32,160 Speaker 1: her body was gone. He went back and told his 23 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:35,000 Speaker 1: co workers about what happened and about the medical student 24 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:37,640 Speaker 1: who had claimed to be the perpetrator. The group of 25 00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:41,280 Speaker 1: workers quickly formed into a mob and marched off towards 26 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:45,039 Speaker 1: the hospital. Once there, they rushed the doors and the 27 00:01:45,160 --> 00:01:50,680 Speaker 1: rioting began. They poured into the building, smashing anatomical specimens 28 00:01:50,720 --> 00:01:54,800 Speaker 1: as they went. They came upon cowering medical students, hanging 29 00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:58,880 Speaker 1: corpses and boiling kettles full of bodies. News of the 30 00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:01,680 Speaker 1: rabble made its way the mayor, who ordered doctors and 31 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:04,960 Speaker 1: medical students to be held in jail for their own protection. 32 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:09,480 Speaker 1: The mob eventually dispersed for the day and things settled down, 33 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:12,440 Speaker 1: but people continue to talk about what they had seen 34 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:15,560 Speaker 1: at the hospital that evening, and by the next morning, 35 00:02:15,720 --> 00:02:18,640 Speaker 1: unrest and anger about the use of robbed bodies for 36 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:24,200 Speaker 1: anatomical lessons spread like wildfire. The mob once again assembled 37 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:27,079 Speaker 1: and spread throughout the city, looking not only for other 38 00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:30,200 Speaker 1: bodies that had been snatched, but also for doctors and 39 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:34,280 Speaker 1: medical students themselves. Estimates placed the size of the crowd 40 00:02:34,320 --> 00:02:37,840 Speaker 1: and about five thousand, with rioters attacking the jail and 41 00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:40,919 Speaker 1: yelling for the doctors to be handed over. The city 42 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:44,200 Speaker 1: deployed a militia to squash the uprising, but left and 43 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:48,839 Speaker 1: estimated twenty people dead. Knowledge of the human body and 44 00:02:48,919 --> 00:02:53,120 Speaker 1: how to treat its ailments requires well bodies, and the 45 00:02:53,160 --> 00:02:56,560 Speaker 1: study of bodies is of course not a neutral pursuit. 46 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:00,720 Speaker 1: It's deeply entwined with pre existing convictions of the value 47 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:05,000 Speaker 1: of such bodies. In some places, body snatching was illegal, 48 00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:08,320 Speaker 1: but only as a misdemeanor, while in most the possession 49 00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:12,120 Speaker 1: of stolen bodies was not actually a crime. Other places 50 00:03:12,160 --> 00:03:14,960 Speaker 1: had nothing on the books at all, and in any case, 51 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:18,000 Speaker 1: there were only so many corpses to be had, far 52 00:03:18,120 --> 00:03:21,840 Speaker 1: fewer than needed for training, which led many medical students 53 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:24,960 Speaker 1: to take their education into their own hands and acquire 54 00:03:25,040 --> 00:03:29,799 Speaker 1: cadavers by other more nefarious means. This was a situation 55 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:33,040 Speaker 1: that was bound to spark backlash and even violence, but 56 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:35,440 Speaker 1: for some time no one had ever felt the need 57 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:39,560 Speaker 1: to do anything about it. So why now, Well, it 58 00:03:39,600 --> 00:03:41,600 Speaker 1: seems that it all has to do with what kind 59 00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:45,720 Speaker 1: of bodies were taken and from where the outrage was fueled, 60 00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:48,720 Speaker 1: not simply by the fact that graves had been desecrated 61 00:03:48,840 --> 00:03:52,360 Speaker 1: and bodies stolen and dissected, but the fact that wealthy 62 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:55,480 Speaker 1: people were also being snatched. You see, as long as 63 00:03:55,520 --> 00:03:58,440 Speaker 1: they were the corpses of black or indigenous people, or 64 00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:01,520 Speaker 1: of people of poor European in stock, no one seemed 65 00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:04,760 Speaker 1: to care. It's not clear what happened to the bodies 66 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:07,760 Speaker 1: of those left dead in the riot's wake. It's lost 67 00:04:07,760 --> 00:04:10,160 Speaker 1: to history whether they were able to remain in their 68 00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:13,320 Speaker 1: graves or if they too ended up under the knife. 69 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:16,839 Speaker 1: But what is clear is just how pervasive the underlying 70 00:04:16,880 --> 00:04:21,440 Speaker 1: attitude of whose body was worth what was becoming, and 71 00:04:21,520 --> 00:04:27,520 Speaker 1: sadly it would only get worse. I'm Aaron Manky and 72 00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:41,039 Speaker 1: welcome to the side show. There was a scent of 73 00:04:41,200 --> 00:04:44,600 Speaker 1: low tide and opportunity in the air, and the merchants 74 00:04:44,600 --> 00:04:48,640 Speaker 1: of South Streets liked it that way. In eight thirty five, 75 00:04:48,760 --> 00:04:51,960 Speaker 1: the seaport on the southernmost part of Manhattan was hopping. 76 00:04:52,360 --> 00:04:55,040 Speaker 1: On any given day, there might be a thousand ships, 77 00:04:55,080 --> 00:04:58,880 Speaker 1: all bobbing like ducklings, waiting to unload their wares, and 78 00:04:59,080 --> 00:05:01,839 Speaker 1: just steps from the box were rows of shops, their 79 00:05:01,880 --> 00:05:05,800 Speaker 1: doors swinging in constant motion as money came, and goods 80 00:05:05,800 --> 00:05:09,320 Speaker 1: went p t Barnum leaned against the counter of his 81 00:05:09,360 --> 00:05:12,200 Speaker 1: grocery store. He tugged at his collar and dabbed at 82 00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:15,040 Speaker 1: his brow with a handkerchief. The sea breeze did little 83 00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:18,599 Speaker 1: to mitigate the humid, damp shop interior. It could feel 84 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:22,760 Speaker 1: cavernous at times, Stacked high with burlap sacks and novelties 85 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:26,680 Speaker 1: of all kinds, it had been a tough winter. After 86 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:30,440 Speaker 1: leaving Bethel with his wife Charity and daughter Caroline, they, 87 00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:32,600 Speaker 1: like so many others, had made their way to the 88 00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:36,080 Speaker 1: big city. But work didn't come quickly, and neither did 89 00:05:36,080 --> 00:05:39,440 Speaker 1: the debts that customers back in Connecticut owed him. When 90 00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:42,560 Speaker 1: that money did finally come, Barnum began to breathe a 91 00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:45,640 Speaker 1: little bit easier. He opened a boarding house and soon 92 00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:49,920 Speaker 1: after bought equity in a local grocery store. It was here, 93 00:05:50,200 --> 00:05:54,320 Speaker 1: in his claustrophobic mercantile kingdom that Barnum's life took a turn. 94 00:05:54,839 --> 00:05:57,680 Speaker 1: What happened next became the subject of a lifelong, ever 95 00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:01,520 Speaker 1: shifting narrative. Like many goods stories, it all began with 96 00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:04,080 Speaker 1: someone at the front door, and we can imagine that 97 00:06:04,160 --> 00:06:06,960 Speaker 1: with a flip of his wrist. Barnum quickly folded his 98 00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:11,080 Speaker 1: handkerchief and tucked it away as Coley Bartram walked into 99 00:06:11,080 --> 00:06:14,760 Speaker 1: the shop. Coley Bartram was an acquaintance of Barnum, but 100 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:18,040 Speaker 1: he didn't come to buy anything that day. No, Bartram 101 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:21,599 Speaker 1: was here with other business matters in mind. Barnum's reputation 102 00:06:21,680 --> 00:06:24,760 Speaker 1: as a wily businessman had preceded him, and Coley was 103 00:06:24,800 --> 00:06:28,320 Speaker 1: here to talk about a sale at this very moment. 104 00:06:28,400 --> 00:06:30,960 Speaker 1: He told Barnum there was a woman traveling the East 105 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:33,800 Speaker 1: coast who might be of great interest to him. Reaching 106 00:06:33,839 --> 00:06:38,159 Speaker 1: into his pocket, Bartram unfolded an advertisement from the Philadelphia 107 00:06:38,240 --> 00:06:43,320 Speaker 1: Inquirer Joyce. Heth it read a Negress aged one hundred 108 00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:46,560 Speaker 1: sixty one years who formerly belonged to the father of 109 00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:52,599 Speaker 1: General Washington. General Washington as in President George Washington. He 110 00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:54,760 Speaker 1: went on to tell the tale that for almost a 111 00:06:54,839 --> 00:06:57,599 Speaker 1: hundred years she had lived with a family in Kentucky. 112 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:00,880 Speaker 1: As the story goes, the family retained her original bill 113 00:07:00,920 --> 00:07:04,040 Speaker 1: of sale, signed by none other than George Washington's old 114 00:07:04,120 --> 00:07:07,160 Speaker 1: dad himself. In fact, Coley went on she had been 115 00:07:07,200 --> 00:07:10,680 Speaker 1: little George's nursemaid, raising him from infancy and into his 116 00:07:10,840 --> 00:07:14,200 Speaker 1: role as founding father. And now she had alighted out 117 00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:18,280 Speaker 1: on tour, but of course not on her own. You see, 118 00:07:18,440 --> 00:07:21,600 Speaker 1: Joyce Heth was on the human curiosity circuit, a form 119 00:07:21,640 --> 00:07:25,640 Speaker 1: of entertainment popular in the days before Netflix. Because of that, 120 00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:28,680 Speaker 1: she had managers. And one of those managers included one 121 00:07:28,720 --> 00:07:32,600 Speaker 1: of Coley's former business partners. And this business partner and 122 00:07:32,760 --> 00:07:35,440 Speaker 1: I tinerant showman by the name of R. W. Lindsay, 123 00:07:36,080 --> 00:07:40,640 Speaker 1: was eager to sell his act, his act being the living, breathing, 124 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:45,240 Speaker 1: elderly Joyce Heth. Now, if this sounds gross, well that's 125 00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:47,680 Speaker 1: because it is. What we're talking about here is, in 126 00:07:47,720 --> 00:07:50,880 Speaker 1: effect human trafficking, the selling of a black body from 127 00:07:50,880 --> 00:07:53,200 Speaker 1: one set of white hands to another. If you are 128 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:55,960 Speaker 1: under the impression that the North had an enlightened position 129 00:07:56,120 --> 00:08:00,679 Speaker 1: on owning people, well you'd best think again. The year before, 130 00:08:00,920 --> 00:08:04,600 Speaker 1: New York City had been torn apart by anti abolition riots. 131 00:08:04,840 --> 00:08:07,720 Speaker 1: It took days for the military to squash the upheaval. 132 00:08:08,080 --> 00:08:11,560 Speaker 1: In their wake, the rioters left destruction of homes, businesses, 133 00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:16,119 Speaker 1: and churches. The mob tortured, raped, burned, and lynched folks 134 00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:21,640 Speaker 1: of African descent and demanded their deportation. This horrific violence 135 00:08:21,960 --> 00:08:25,600 Speaker 1: took place in the blocks surrounding Barnum's grocery. So when 136 00:08:25,600 --> 00:08:28,200 Speaker 1: we talk about someone being the product of their environment, 137 00:08:28,720 --> 00:08:31,600 Speaker 1: this was the water he was swimming in. It's easy 138 00:08:31,640 --> 00:08:35,199 Speaker 1: to imagine Collie not suffering from too many moral quandaries. 139 00:08:35,480 --> 00:08:37,640 Speaker 1: When he offered to put Barnum in touch with our 140 00:08:37,840 --> 00:08:41,960 Speaker 1: w Lindsay, Barnum took the bait. He would later write 141 00:08:41,960 --> 00:08:44,440 Speaker 1: in his biography that the prospect of Joyce made him 142 00:08:44,520 --> 00:08:48,440 Speaker 1: considerably excited. He immediately decided that he would close up 143 00:08:48,440 --> 00:08:52,120 Speaker 1: shop and head down to Philadelphia. Ever since his first 144 00:08:52,160 --> 00:08:55,640 Speaker 1: taste at the showman life, he'd been hankering for another act, 145 00:08:56,440 --> 00:09:07,360 Speaker 1: one that was much more permanent. Joyce Heath held a 146 00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:11,040 Speaker 1: court befitting her age. She was a community elder, after all, 147 00:09:11,200 --> 00:09:14,199 Speaker 1: with many decades and roads behind her, But the true 148 00:09:14,240 --> 00:09:16,559 Speaker 1: story of her life and the story that she spun 149 00:09:16,640 --> 00:09:19,560 Speaker 1: for her audience were not one and the same. In fact, 150 00:09:19,559 --> 00:09:24,079 Speaker 1: the tale she told was an outright yarn. Joyce's brown 151 00:09:24,120 --> 00:09:27,880 Speaker 1: and wrinkled face looked utterly ancient. She had no eyes, sights, 152 00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:30,920 Speaker 1: and no teeth, but she still retained a charisma that 153 00:09:30,960 --> 00:09:34,080 Speaker 1: outsized her small frame. One of the first lies that 154 00:09:34,120 --> 00:09:36,320 Speaker 1: the papers told about her was that she was a 155 00:09:36,360 --> 00:09:39,040 Speaker 1: century and a half old. The second lie was that 156 00:09:39,080 --> 00:09:42,720 Speaker 1: she had raised George Washington. Although the man had died 157 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:47,400 Speaker 1: decades earlier, Washington still loomed large in America's collective imagination. 158 00:09:47,720 --> 00:09:50,319 Speaker 1: He was a man made of myth in a country 159 00:09:50,400 --> 00:09:54,000 Speaker 1: so enamored with their own homegrown demigod, it's not hard 160 00:09:54,040 --> 00:09:57,920 Speaker 1: to understand why Joyce's audience wanted so badly to believe her. 161 00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:01,840 Speaker 1: For a woman so small, oh black, and so enslaved, 162 00:10:02,160 --> 00:10:04,800 Speaker 1: it seemed almost unthinkable that she could make a name 163 00:10:04,840 --> 00:10:09,679 Speaker 1: for herself out of proximity to celebrity, but she did so. 164 00:10:09,880 --> 00:10:12,920 Speaker 1: She sat there in her rocker, her pipe smoke curling 165 00:10:12,960 --> 00:10:16,320 Speaker 1: around her head. From there she reached across to the past, 166 00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:19,760 Speaker 1: directly linking herself to one of the greatest legends in 167 00:10:19,760 --> 00:10:24,480 Speaker 1: the American experiment. Scholars don't know about her early life, 168 00:10:24,640 --> 00:10:27,440 Speaker 1: but it's thought that Joyce was originally enslaved by a 169 00:10:27,480 --> 00:10:31,240 Speaker 1: man who had cross paths with Washington, although frankly, it's 170 00:10:31,280 --> 00:10:33,760 Speaker 1: believed this connection amounted to nothing more than a bit 171 00:10:33,800 --> 00:10:37,680 Speaker 1: of braggadocious spirit on the part of her owner. Joyce 172 00:10:37,800 --> 00:10:41,280 Speaker 1: was then sent to live on a tobacco farm in Louisville, Kentucky. 173 00:10:41,320 --> 00:10:43,760 Speaker 1: From there she came under the ownership of a fellow 174 00:10:44,080 --> 00:10:48,400 Speaker 1: named John S. Bowling. Historians believe that John got into 175 00:10:48,400 --> 00:10:51,160 Speaker 1: cahoots with our W Lindsay. But it's here that her 176 00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:53,839 Speaker 1: story gets hazy. But what we do know is that 177 00:10:53,880 --> 00:10:57,839 Speaker 1: she went on the road with the latter. Newspaper advertisements 178 00:10:57,880 --> 00:11:01,839 Speaker 1: announced her impending arrivals, her stature growing with every run 179 00:11:01,880 --> 00:11:05,360 Speaker 1: of the printing press. Her appearances were announced as early 180 00:11:05,400 --> 00:11:09,400 Speaker 1: as January of eighteen thirty five, touting her as one 181 00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:14,600 Speaker 1: of the greatest natural curiosities ever exhibited. When Barnum finally 182 00:11:14,679 --> 00:11:18,679 Speaker 1: arrived in Philadelphia, Joyce Heth was in full form, entertaining 183 00:11:18,679 --> 00:11:22,200 Speaker 1: a crowd, singing old church hymns and telling stories of 184 00:11:22,400 --> 00:11:26,160 Speaker 1: Little Georgie. What happened next is a bit murky, but 185 00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:30,920 Speaker 1: undeniably exploitative. We don't know what Barnum really thought about 186 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:33,600 Speaker 1: Joyce at that moment. In some ways, he's one of 187 00:11:33,679 --> 00:11:38,000 Speaker 1: history's most unreliable narrators. He was a master of story craft, 188 00:11:38,040 --> 00:11:42,080 Speaker 1: after all, spinning spectacular fictions from bare threads of fact. 189 00:11:42,800 --> 00:11:46,040 Speaker 1: You see over his life he published various editions of 190 00:11:46,120 --> 00:11:50,160 Speaker 1: his own autobiography, and in these different versions across the ages, 191 00:11:50,440 --> 00:11:53,800 Speaker 1: his account of the Joyce Helf affair evolved. There's a 192 00:11:53,800 --> 00:11:56,480 Speaker 1: fair case to be made that Barnum didn't really believe 193 00:11:56,559 --> 00:11:59,839 Speaker 1: that Joyce was one d sixty one years old. In fact, 194 00:12:00,040 --> 00:12:02,240 Speaker 1: he may have believed that not a lot of people 195 00:12:02,280 --> 00:12:06,360 Speaker 1: did either. It's possible that he, like those in Joyce's audience, 196 00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:10,319 Speaker 1: so badly wanted to believe the story she told. This 197 00:12:10,360 --> 00:12:13,040 Speaker 1: willingness to be duped was part of the human psyche 198 00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:16,360 Speaker 1: that Barnum loved to manipulate, So in order to make 199 00:12:16,400 --> 00:12:19,319 Speaker 1: her case more convincing, it's possible that he took it 200 00:12:19,400 --> 00:12:23,000 Speaker 1: upon himself to remake her in his own design. And 201 00:12:23,120 --> 00:12:25,520 Speaker 1: because of all of this, we can't know for sure 202 00:12:25,559 --> 00:12:28,640 Speaker 1: who he understood Joyce heth to be. But what we 203 00:12:28,679 --> 00:12:31,640 Speaker 1: can be certain of is this he believed that she 204 00:12:31,760 --> 00:12:34,400 Speaker 1: was going to make him a lot of money, so 205 00:12:34,600 --> 00:12:37,280 Speaker 1: he bought her, or at least he bought some of 206 00:12:37,320 --> 00:12:40,840 Speaker 1: the rights to her. Scholars have debated for years about 207 00:12:40,880 --> 00:12:43,720 Speaker 1: the wording of the contract that he signed. Did he 208 00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:46,559 Speaker 1: now own her or was he just leasing her from 209 00:12:46,559 --> 00:12:50,880 Speaker 1: our w technicalities aside a better question to ask might be, 210 00:12:50,960 --> 00:12:54,200 Speaker 1: this doesn't matter if the end result is the same. 211 00:12:54,800 --> 00:12:57,840 Speaker 1: America was created on the backs of enslaved people, and 212 00:12:57,840 --> 00:13:02,280 Speaker 1: now Barnum had chosen to continue at legacy. P T. 213 00:13:02,400 --> 00:13:06,040 Speaker 1: Barnum and his newly acquired sidekick, Levi Lyman arranged to 214 00:13:06,080 --> 00:13:08,640 Speaker 1: have private meetings with the press, teasing them with the 215 00:13:08,679 --> 00:13:12,319 Speaker 1: promise of exclusive access to Joyce. But the men had 216 00:13:12,360 --> 00:13:15,760 Speaker 1: an ulterior motive. This wasn't a pr stunt, but a 217 00:13:15,800 --> 00:13:18,520 Speaker 1: paid endeavor on the part of the journalist to suddenly 218 00:13:18,800 --> 00:13:23,680 Speaker 1: miraculously turn any of their critics into believers. Any media 219 00:13:23,760 --> 00:13:26,319 Speaker 1: scholar would tell you that this also was a pretty 220 00:13:26,400 --> 00:13:29,800 Speaker 1: dubious move. Joyce became a kind of analog click bait 221 00:13:29,880 --> 00:13:32,280 Speaker 1: that drove profits into the hands of her keepers and 222 00:13:32,320 --> 00:13:36,040 Speaker 1: newspaper publishers alike. To this end, Barnum was honing his 223 00:13:36,080 --> 00:13:40,880 Speaker 1: skills as a master manipulator. In New York, Joyce put 224 00:13:40,880 --> 00:13:43,720 Speaker 1: on a convincing show. She went on to Providence and 225 00:13:43,800 --> 00:13:46,840 Speaker 1: then to Boston, with a mix of Manhattan and Albany 226 00:13:46,920 --> 00:13:50,880 Speaker 1: in between. Newspapers likened her to an Egyptian mummy and 227 00:13:50,920 --> 00:13:54,600 Speaker 1: spoke of her skeletal frame. Others claimed that she wasn't 228 00:13:54,679 --> 00:13:57,440 Speaker 1: really an enslaved person at all, but rather a puppet 229 00:13:57,559 --> 00:14:02,199 Speaker 1: made of whalebone, rubber and springs. Then, in the winter 230 00:14:02,360 --> 00:14:06,120 Speaker 1: of eighteen thirty six, she grew sick. To recuperate, she 231 00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:09,080 Speaker 1: was sent to Bethel, Connecticut, to the home of Barnum's brother, 232 00:14:09,559 --> 00:14:11,599 Speaker 1: and he also sent along a nurse to keep a 233 00:14:11,640 --> 00:14:16,520 Speaker 1: watchful eye on her, someone to protect his most valuable asset. Sadly, 234 00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:21,680 Speaker 1: it wouldn't help. Joyce passed away on February of eighteen 235 00:14:21,680 --> 00:14:24,800 Speaker 1: thirty six, but whether or not she would rest in 236 00:14:24,880 --> 00:14:40,680 Speaker 1: peace is an entirely different story. Joyce Heath's live performances 237 00:14:40,760 --> 00:14:43,200 Speaker 1: made P. T. Barnum the talk of the town, and 238 00:14:43,240 --> 00:14:45,440 Speaker 1: he wasn't about to let her death put an end 239 00:14:45,480 --> 00:14:50,000 Speaker 1: to that. On February eighteen thirty six, just six days 240 00:14:50,040 --> 00:14:54,600 Speaker 1: after her death, Barnum packed about spectators into a makeshift 241 00:14:54,640 --> 00:14:58,240 Speaker 1: operating theater in New York City. He invited the public 242 00:14:58,640 --> 00:15:02,520 Speaker 1: and some very prominent news paper editors as well. You see, 243 00:15:02,560 --> 00:15:05,240 Speaker 1: the Penny papers, which had for several months been writing 244 00:15:05,280 --> 00:15:10,200 Speaker 1: about Joyce extensively, immediately clamored for an autopsy after she died. 245 00:15:10,720 --> 00:15:14,640 Speaker 1: They saw her potential scientific value, particularly as part of 246 00:15:14,680 --> 00:15:19,160 Speaker 1: the broader science of inquiring into racial difference. So when 247 00:15:19,200 --> 00:15:22,160 Speaker 1: The New York Sun ran an article announcing Joyce's passing, 248 00:15:22,480 --> 00:15:25,600 Speaker 1: it included the question whether, for the sake of science, 249 00:15:25,760 --> 00:15:29,440 Speaker 1: would not a post mortem examination of this aged person 250 00:15:29,600 --> 00:15:33,320 Speaker 1: be of use. After all, the black market for corpses 251 00:15:33,400 --> 00:15:37,120 Speaker 1: was robust, and medical curiosities, as they termed them back then, 252 00:15:37,480 --> 00:15:41,680 Speaker 1: commanded top dollar. The New York Sun then quickly published 253 00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:44,880 Speaker 1: another article objecting to the autopsy, but not for the 254 00:15:44,920 --> 00:15:48,000 Speaker 1: reasons you might assume. No, the writer wasn't concerned with 255 00:15:48,080 --> 00:15:51,960 Speaker 1: retaining Joyce's individual dignity, but rather wanted to respect her 256 00:15:52,400 --> 00:15:55,920 Speaker 1: due to her connection to George Washington. Because of her 257 00:15:55,920 --> 00:16:00,000 Speaker 1: association to a name so seemingly immortal, some papers argue 258 00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:02,480 Speaker 1: that she should be spared the indecency that a public 259 00:16:02,520 --> 00:16:06,000 Speaker 1: autopsy would bring. But even though a heated debate formed 260 00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:09,000 Speaker 1: around it, none of it mattered to Barnum. He intended 261 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:11,840 Speaker 1: to capitalize on all of it, and he did so 262 00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:17,000 Speaker 1: in spades. Barnum quickly contacted Dr David Rogers, a pre 263 00:16:17,040 --> 00:16:20,200 Speaker 1: eminent surgeon who had already expressed a desire to conduct 264 00:16:20,200 --> 00:16:23,880 Speaker 1: an autopsy after Heath died. Dr Rogers, it seems, had 265 00:16:23,920 --> 00:16:27,560 Speaker 1: been quite skeptical about who Joyce really was. He visited 266 00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:30,360 Speaker 1: her and had conducted a physical exam and found no 267 00:16:30,520 --> 00:16:33,320 Speaker 1: signs of what would be expected had the person been 268 00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:37,560 Speaker 1: the age that she claimed to be. Roger skepticism was noteworthy. 269 00:16:37,800 --> 00:16:40,520 Speaker 1: The fact that Barnum hired him to do the autopsy 270 00:16:40,640 --> 00:16:43,440 Speaker 1: not only gave the whole spectacle some degree of credibility, 271 00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:47,120 Speaker 1: but also turned skepticism into a major draw for the event. 272 00:16:47,640 --> 00:16:52,120 Speaker 1: He was manipulating all sides to his own advantage. The 273 00:16:52,200 --> 00:16:55,400 Speaker 1: procedure kicked off at noon in an operating theater next 274 00:16:55,440 --> 00:16:58,160 Speaker 1: door to what would later in fact become Barnum's Great 275 00:16:58,160 --> 00:17:02,240 Speaker 1: American Museum. Heth body had been placed in a mahogany coffin, 276 00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:06,159 Speaker 1: all eyes stared down, and next craned for the best angle. 277 00:17:06,680 --> 00:17:09,480 Speaker 1: We can hear the hush fall over the audience, and 278 00:17:09,520 --> 00:17:12,160 Speaker 1: it's easy to imagine how small she looked in death, 279 00:17:12,480 --> 00:17:15,600 Speaker 1: her body still just a tool used by others in 280 00:17:15,600 --> 00:17:20,800 Speaker 1: their relentless pursuit of profit. Dr Rogers split Joyce apart, 281 00:17:21,280 --> 00:17:25,160 Speaker 1: narrating to his audience as he went, explaining his incisions 282 00:17:25,200 --> 00:17:27,919 Speaker 1: and what things he was looking for in determining the 283 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:34,919 Speaker 1: authenticity of Barnum's claims, he proceeded to thoroughly examine her chest, cavity, liver, heart, skull, 284 00:17:35,320 --> 00:17:38,520 Speaker 1: and other areas where telltale signs of an ancient life 285 00:17:38,600 --> 00:17:42,840 Speaker 1: might be found. Yet he found nothing indicating such old age. 286 00:17:43,080 --> 00:17:45,600 Speaker 1: In fact, he decided that she probably couldn't have been 287 00:17:45,600 --> 00:17:50,000 Speaker 1: more than seventy five years old. Barnum later claimed that 288 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:52,560 Speaker 1: the doctor pulled him aside and said what a shame 289 00:17:52,600 --> 00:17:56,000 Speaker 1: it was that he had been tricked. Yes, you heard 290 00:17:56,000 --> 00:18:00,440 Speaker 1: that right. Poor Barnum was the victim. At least that's 291 00:18:00,480 --> 00:18:03,520 Speaker 1: what some of the papers reported, and Barnum led them 292 00:18:03,520 --> 00:18:06,200 Speaker 1: to believe it, just in case any of his customers 293 00:18:06,280 --> 00:18:09,879 Speaker 1: might call foul. Later. Meanwhile, he had Lynman plant a 294 00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:12,639 Speaker 1: different story in the New York Herald, one that claimed 295 00:18:12,640 --> 00:18:15,679 Speaker 1: that Joyce Heath was still alive and that the autopsy 296 00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:18,399 Speaker 1: had in fact been done on an entirely different woman, 297 00:18:18,960 --> 00:18:24,280 Speaker 1: an impostor. Months later. Levi would laugh when confronted about 298 00:18:24,280 --> 00:18:27,280 Speaker 1: this lie, and would proceed to tell one last story 299 00:18:27,359 --> 00:18:30,600 Speaker 1: with the assurance that this one was the truth. He 300 00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:34,080 Speaker 1: swore that Barnum had found Joyce in Kentucky, pulled her 301 00:18:34,080 --> 00:18:36,320 Speaker 1: teeth out and taught her how to tell stories about 302 00:18:36,320 --> 00:18:39,920 Speaker 1: George Washington. Levi's version would go on to haunt Barnum 303 00:18:40,080 --> 00:18:42,679 Speaker 1: until the end of his days, one that could never 304 00:18:42,720 --> 00:18:46,080 Speaker 1: be erased, even by the abolitionist causes he took up 305 00:18:46,200 --> 00:18:50,679 Speaker 1: later in life. The public autopsy of Joyce Heath became 306 00:18:50,720 --> 00:18:54,919 Speaker 1: a spectacle through the media firestorm that ensued. Various penny 307 00:18:54,920 --> 00:18:58,080 Speaker 1: press publications who were always at war with one another, 308 00:18:58,400 --> 00:19:03,439 Speaker 1: published competing countrydicting stories while each purported to reveal the truth, 309 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:07,800 Speaker 1: and people couldn't look away. As the old saying goes, 310 00:19:08,560 --> 00:19:25,760 Speaker 1: there's no such thing as bad publicity. The story of 311 00:19:25,840 --> 00:19:28,680 Speaker 1: Joyce he and P. T. Barnum is a complicated one, 312 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:32,320 Speaker 1: even for Barnum himself. On one side, it was through 313 00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:35,360 Speaker 1: exhibiting her that Barnum found his calling as a showman. 314 00:19:35,720 --> 00:19:37,880 Speaker 1: In a lot of ways, she helped to launch him 315 00:19:37,880 --> 00:19:41,879 Speaker 1: into stardom. During the exhibits hey day, thousands of visitors 316 00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:45,000 Speaker 1: paid money to stare, to touch, to question, and to 317 00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:47,720 Speaker 1: marvel at a human being as though she was a 318 00:19:47,760 --> 00:19:51,720 Speaker 1: circus attraction or a painting in a museum. But there 319 00:19:51,720 --> 00:19:54,159 Speaker 1: were also those who questioned the morality of how they 320 00:19:54,200 --> 00:19:58,520 Speaker 1: participated in this act, how they were complicit in their spectating. 321 00:19:58,960 --> 00:20:02,800 Speaker 1: You see, entertainment, it is never quite a neutral entity, 322 00:20:02,840 --> 00:20:05,800 Speaker 1: and in the case of Joyce Heth, the fears, biases, 323 00:20:05,840 --> 00:20:09,359 Speaker 1: and prejudices of those in the Antebellum North came to 324 00:20:09,400 --> 00:20:13,800 Speaker 1: the foreground. In later years, the idea of being a 325 00:20:13,880 --> 00:20:17,840 Speaker 1: Northern slave owner became much more socially repugnant. As time 326 00:20:17,880 --> 00:20:21,240 Speaker 1: went on, Barnum tried progressively harder. It seems to put 327 00:20:21,280 --> 00:20:25,600 Speaker 1: some considerable distance between himself and this episode from his past, 328 00:20:26,560 --> 00:20:28,800 Speaker 1: so we see that his hand was heavy in the 329 00:20:28,880 --> 00:20:32,680 Speaker 1: making of Heth. But scholars have also posed another question, 330 00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:37,280 Speaker 1: what if Joyce hath story had actually been created by her? 331 00:20:38,280 --> 00:20:41,120 Speaker 1: Because it's typically the powerful ones who hold the pencils 332 00:20:41,119 --> 00:20:44,280 Speaker 1: and write the narratives. We don't have a complete understanding 333 00:20:44,320 --> 00:20:47,280 Speaker 1: today of who she was, but one can wonder this 334 00:20:48,040 --> 00:20:51,240 Speaker 1: was she the author of her own gaff, actively fooling 335 00:20:51,320 --> 00:20:55,199 Speaker 1: the willing naive white audiences and white press. Could it 336 00:20:55,240 --> 00:20:59,320 Speaker 1: possibly have been Joyce and not Barnum nor his predecessors 337 00:20:59,400 --> 00:21:03,199 Speaker 1: who invent did this particular humbug? And if she was 338 00:21:03,280 --> 00:21:06,320 Speaker 1: behind it, then it certainly paints a powerful image for 339 00:21:06,440 --> 00:21:09,480 Speaker 1: us a black woman living in a time when people 340 00:21:09,520 --> 00:21:11,960 Speaker 1: like her were at the bottom of the social letter 341 00:21:12,359 --> 00:21:15,959 Speaker 1: becoming the author of her own story. Now that's an 342 00:21:16,040 --> 00:21:35,800 Speaker 1: ending I can get behind. As I mentioned before, the 343 00:21:35,840 --> 00:21:39,119 Speaker 1: story of Joyce Heth is a complicated one, and I 344 00:21:39,200 --> 00:21:41,600 Speaker 1: know some of the details can be hard to stomach, 345 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:45,040 Speaker 1: but nevertheless they are important to tell because they shed 346 00:21:45,160 --> 00:21:47,439 Speaker 1: light on how we understand the world we live in. 347 00:21:48,119 --> 00:21:51,440 Speaker 1: And because of that, we've set aside one more example, 348 00:21:51,760 --> 00:21:54,160 Speaker 1: and if you stick around through our brief sponsor break, 349 00:21:54,480 --> 00:21:58,040 Speaker 1: my co producer Robin Miniter will tell you all about it. 350 00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:13,000 Speaker 1: If you wanted to get business done, the city tavern 351 00:22:13,119 --> 00:22:16,080 Speaker 1: was the place to be, and Henry Moss knew this well. 352 00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:20,600 Speaker 1: Taverns played an important role in the lives of early Americans. 353 00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:23,280 Speaker 1: It was a place to find the news, to test 354 00:22:23,280 --> 00:22:26,760 Speaker 1: out ideas, and to be entertained. Being able to get 355 00:22:26,760 --> 00:22:31,560 Speaker 1: a stiff drink certainly didn't hurt either. The Philadelphia air 356 00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:34,480 Speaker 1: was heavy and full of possibilities. The July day that 357 00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:39,080 Speaker 1: Henry went into town, it was and America was on 358 00:22:39,080 --> 00:22:42,320 Speaker 1: the brink of a new century, and for over twenty 359 00:22:42,400 --> 00:22:44,399 Speaker 1: years the city had been at the center of a 360 00:22:44,440 --> 00:22:48,040 Speaker 1: growing nation it was a time when America was trying 361 00:22:48,040 --> 00:22:52,440 Speaker 1: to forge its own identity. The personalities who determined what 362 00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:56,680 Speaker 1: unalienable rights were and who those rights belonged to, still 363 00:22:56,720 --> 00:23:01,399 Speaker 1: walked these streets. Their ancestors had im graded here, trafficking 364 00:23:01,440 --> 00:23:06,399 Speaker 1: people from the African continent and desecrating indigenous communities. And 365 00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:09,919 Speaker 1: along the way, these people were able to install themselves 366 00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:13,159 Speaker 1: as a ruling class in this new nation, and it 367 00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:17,719 Speaker 1: behooved them to retain this power at all costs. So 368 00:23:17,760 --> 00:23:20,280 Speaker 1: when the faces of these men came to see Henriett 369 00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:23,800 Speaker 1: the tavern that day, he smiled at them and to himself. 370 00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:27,199 Speaker 1: Not a great deal is known about him beyond his 371 00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:31,679 Speaker 1: exhibit persona. Most of what we know specifically concerned his body, 372 00:23:31,960 --> 00:23:36,760 Speaker 1: which of course became his legend. You see, he wanted 373 00:23:36,800 --> 00:23:40,679 Speaker 1: to be looked at. Advertisements were planted in newspapers. He 374 00:23:40,840 --> 00:23:45,240 Speaker 1: was called a curiosity. The printing presses likened his celebrity 375 00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:49,160 Speaker 1: to that of Adams, Jefferson, and Madison. And when President 376 00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:52,840 Speaker 1: George Washington stopped by, we can imagine that Henry nodded 377 00:23:52,840 --> 00:23:57,679 Speaker 1: in his direction, knowing he was holding court for American royalty. 378 00:23:58,320 --> 00:24:01,080 Speaker 1: And on these occasions he would roll up his sleeves, 379 00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:05,200 Speaker 1: unbuttoned his shirt, and show the crowd his spots across 380 00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:08,760 Speaker 1: his skin were splattered pink patches, little islands of pale 381 00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:13,560 Speaker 1: spreading across his body like constellations, and the onlookers tried 382 00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:17,639 Speaker 1: to find meaning in their shapes. You see, Henry was 383 00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:21,240 Speaker 1: a free black man with videlago, a condition which causes 384 00:24:21,280 --> 00:24:24,919 Speaker 1: skin cells to lose their pigment. He invited gawkers to 385 00:24:24,960 --> 00:24:28,240 Speaker 1: come touch him for themselves and witness how as he 386 00:24:28,320 --> 00:24:32,720 Speaker 1: told them, he was turning white through his own design. 387 00:24:33,119 --> 00:24:36,119 Speaker 1: He became a walking war shark test for a new 388 00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:40,560 Speaker 1: American anxiety. As Henry spoke to the crowd, he was 389 00:24:40,600 --> 00:24:43,480 Speaker 1: sure to answer any questions that they had about him. 390 00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:45,959 Speaker 1: He claimed to have been born entirely black, and as 391 00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:49,040 Speaker 1: he got older, according to one paper, his natural color 392 00:24:49,160 --> 00:24:52,240 Speaker 1: began to rub off. The paper went on to say 393 00:24:52,280 --> 00:24:54,760 Speaker 1: that he had become white and was as fair as 394 00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:58,520 Speaker 1: any white person, save a few patches of melanin that remained. 395 00:24:59,680 --> 00:25:02,400 Speaker 1: What at this all mean, the audience wondered, If our 396 00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:06,280 Speaker 1: skin can shape shift, and can this change happen with 397 00:25:06,320 --> 00:25:09,919 Speaker 1: our proximity to different kinds of people? Does it have 398 00:25:10,040 --> 00:25:12,720 Speaker 1: to do with our living environment and maybe the tasks 399 00:25:12,760 --> 00:25:15,760 Speaker 1: we engage with. And if a black man could morph 400 00:25:15,760 --> 00:25:19,160 Speaker 1: into a white one, does that mean an Anglo countryman 401 00:25:19,240 --> 00:25:23,520 Speaker 1: could likewise turn dark? And if one turns dark, does 402 00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:27,200 Speaker 1: that mean that one could also regress and do savagery. 403 00:25:27,720 --> 00:25:31,199 Speaker 1: These people inhabited a world that was beginning to understand 404 00:25:31,320 --> 00:25:35,720 Speaker 1: a social hierarchy contrived from arbitrary groupings, one based on 405 00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:38,879 Speaker 1: skin color, and one that was on the brink of 406 00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:44,320 Speaker 1: becoming the new world order. Soon, the American Philosophical Society 407 00:25:44,400 --> 00:25:47,200 Speaker 1: decided that he was to be more than just an oddity. 408 00:25:47,320 --> 00:25:51,720 Speaker 1: He would become an object of scientific study. They poked him, 409 00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:54,879 Speaker 1: needled him, rub solvents on his skin to see if 410 00:25:54,880 --> 00:25:59,360 Speaker 1: they could expedite his metamorphosis. This was a dangerous turn 411 00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:02,760 Speaker 1: in his story, as the field of philosophy these curious 412 00:26:02,800 --> 00:26:06,640 Speaker 1: minds inhabited would go on to evolve into a burgeoning 413 00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:11,280 Speaker 1: field of anatomy, and anatomy as we know then began 414 00:26:11,320 --> 00:26:15,360 Speaker 1: to dovetail with the world of exhibitionism, trying to say 415 00:26:15,520 --> 00:26:20,720 Speaker 1: the appetite of the ever curious, paying public. Henry would 416 00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:23,960 Speaker 1: move on from the taverns of Philadelphia and continuous travels 417 00:26:24,680 --> 00:26:28,199 Speaker 1: In fact, he traveled all over the Eastern seaboard, but 418 00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:32,040 Speaker 1: at some point history lost track of him. It's fair 419 00:26:32,080 --> 00:26:34,560 Speaker 1: to say that Henry gave us a distinct prototype that 420 00:26:34,560 --> 00:26:37,960 Speaker 1: would go on to evolve into the American Sideshow. He 421 00:26:38,119 --> 00:26:41,119 Speaker 1: created a story, placed himself on the center stage and 422 00:26:41,200 --> 00:26:44,480 Speaker 1: tapped into the fears of his countrymen, fears that asked 423 00:26:44,480 --> 00:26:48,000 Speaker 1: audience members to look on, to examine, but to remain 424 00:26:48,080 --> 00:26:52,199 Speaker 1: flushed with relief that it wasn't them on stage. But 425 00:26:52,280 --> 00:26:56,480 Speaker 1: what Henry also suggested was something alarming. It wasn't them 426 00:26:56,480 --> 00:27:00,440 Speaker 1: on stage then, but his acts suggested that this reality 427 00:27:00,680 --> 00:27:04,320 Speaker 1: might someday change. And with that he would take a 428 00:27:04,359 --> 00:27:08,040 Speaker 1: bow and thank his audience, Fastening his buttons and smoothing 429 00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:11,320 Speaker 1: his sleeves, he would take his leave, his pocket heavy 430 00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:13,919 Speaker 1: with coins and a smile on his lips as he 431 00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:18,159 Speaker 1: walked out of town. After all, for him, it was 432 00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:24,359 Speaker 1: all in a day's work. Sideshow was written by Robin Miniter, 433 00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:28,440 Speaker 1: with production, narration and audio editing by me Aaron Mankey. 434 00:27:28,600 --> 00:27:32,320 Speaker 1: Research for the series was done by Robin Minater, Taylor Haggerdorn, 435 00:27:32,440 --> 00:27:35,720 Speaker 1: and Sam Alberty. Grim and Mild Presents was created in 436 00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:38,639 Speaker 1: partnership with I Heart Radio. You can learn more about 437 00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:41,080 Speaker 1: this show and everything else going on from Grim and 438 00:27:41,119 --> 00:27:45,119 Speaker 1: mild over at grim and mild dot com, and, as always, 439 00:27:45,800 --> 00:27:46,679 Speaker 1: thanks for listening.