This is a true story, the story takes place two hundred years ago, about an African girl who was brought to Europe, locked in an iron cage, and exhibited for 5 years. After the girl's torture and death, some organs were made into specimens and publicly displayed in local museums for more than a hundred years. It wasn't until 2002 that she was finally able to settle down and return to her hometown. This bizarre-sounding story is a real story! And the reason why the girl has this encounter, the reason behind it is even more heinous!
The protagonist of the story, named Sarah Batman, was born in 1789 in the Koisan tribe, a hunting tribe in the Cape of Good Hope in Africa. Unfortunately, Batman was born in a sad time. Bateman's hometown was ruled by Dutch colonists before she was born, so Bateman had to face the reality of becoming a small slave under the rule of slave owner Peter Sezar.
Battman's memory of childhood is limited, and apart from the whip and hunger, only exhaustion remains. Because as slaves, their fate is like grass, and they can only be oppressed. But even so, Batman did not give up hope in life, and she longed all her life to be able to get rid of the shackles of slavery and breathe the air of freedom.
To this end, Batman used almost all the limited time to study, she was not limited to learning any specific knowledge, as long as it was a skill that would help her gain freedom, Butterman was very willing to try. It turned out that Batman was very clever, and in such a harsh environment, she also taught herself 3 European languages, and even secretly learned guitar. However, Bateman did not know that her efforts and struggles were too pale and powerless under the constraints of colonialism, and that her real dark life had just begun.
In 1810, at the age of 21, Batman accidentally met two people, hendrick, the brother of the slave owner to which Batman belonged, and william Dunlop, an English doctor. It stands to reason that the two were both slave owners and were the object of Bateman's greatest hatred. However, after a brief exchange, Batman was deeply attracted to the two men, because they did not have the violence of the slave owners or the contempt for their slaves. On the contrary, Hendrick and William were gentle, amiable, humble and courteous, exactly what Bateman imagined the English gentleman to look like.
It was for this reason that later, Hendrick and William strongly invited Batman to live in Europe, and Batman was moved. However, the real reason for Batman's heart is not the wealth and status promised by the two, but that Batman realizes that this is not the best opportunity for her to break through the shackles and gain freedom? The word freedom has a fatal allure to Batman, and getting rid of slavery, gaining freedom, and escaping from a tragic fate is Batman's lifelong pursuit. So, unsurprisingly, after a brief pause, Batman agreed to the invitation of Both Hendrick and William to travel to Europe together.
Before long, the European Road was put on the agenda, and Batman was full of hope and longing, and embarked on the European Road with Hendrick and William. However, Batman did not expect that the dream was shattered only overnight. The ship to Europe had just departed, and Hendrick and William had completely changed their appearance, or to be precise, revealed their true colors, gentle and courteous, just pretending, and the two men insulted and reprimanded Batman, even violently beat them, with the purpose of smoothing out all the edges and corners of Batman, and there was no thought of resistance, and they could only be at their mercy.
And Batman's newly raised hope is that in the endless reprimands and beatings, little by little, it is shattered. Humiliation and beatings became all of Batman's life, and the situation was worse than what happened to Batman in his hometown.
After Batman arrived in London, Hendrick and William put her in a special iron cage, like livestock, and placed the iron cage on top of London's most crowded square at the time for everyone to see. Moreover, Batman's clothes were still faded, leaving only a handkerchief barely covering the key areas. It is not difficult to imagine that as soon as such a Batman appeared, it set off a boom in the local area, which really stunned everyone. However, what shocked the locals the most was Batman's figure, and they couldn't believe that this black woman, who was only 1.43 meters tall, had huge hips, giving people the feeling that half the weight of the body was on the hips. Because of this curiosity, more and more people watched Batman, just as in their eyes, Batman was not a person, but an animal.
In fact, this is also the calculation of Hendrick and William, as early as the moment when the Cape of Good Hope met Batman. The two are attracted to Batman's huge hips, and their "appreciation" of Batman is, of course, only a cover.
Admittedly, Batman is not tall, about 1.43 meters, but he has some fat hips that are beyond ordinary people. But in fact, such a figure is not uncommon in Batman's hometown, the Khoisan tribe, and it is even said that it is a common feature of women in their tribe. However, Batman's figure is more prominent than that of the tribal woman. This was a normal physical feature, but in the eyes of Hendrick and William, seeing such a Batman, he smelled the business opportunity.
Because in Europe at that time, there was a statement that black Africans were a race that had not fully evolved, and they were closer to ape people than humans, and black people and chimpanzees were related. Batman is regarded as a typical representative of black Africans, and her peculiar figure is regarded as a symbol of barbarism and backwardness, which is evidence of the claim that black people are chimpanzees. Hendrick and William believed that as long as Batman was brought back to Europe, it would definitely attract a large number of people to watch, and the two also took the opportunity to accumulate wealth.
At the end of the day, Batman was just a victim of Hendrick and William's greed and profit. But I have to say that the two people's calculations are correct. As soon as Batman appeared in London, he attracted a large number of people. Hendrick and William also took the opportunity to treat Batman as if he were an animal, selling tickets for the exhibition.
Curious people will also do something to Batman, seemingly determining whether Batman's giant buttocks are true or false. Of course, the inhuman Hendrick and William would not refuse, as long as they could afford to pay, Batman was bullied. Although communication information was not developed in that era, but through the transmission of human to human transmission, Batman's "reputation" spread more and more widely, with curiosity, people from all over the world flocked to find out.
Later, in order to better show the crowd, Hendrick and William also asked Batman to walk around naked in an iron cage. As long as Batman dared to resist, it was a severe beating. The locals also gave Batman a stage name "Hottendow Venus", but I want to know that it is not a good reputation, "Hotundu" is actually a European contempt for black Africans, just from the name can also be seen, the local contempt for Batman, almost everyone regards her as a living person as an animal in the zoo.
Battman spent four years in England, and for four years she was forced to "tour" the country countless times, until the curiosity of the people about her was diminished and no longer interested, and Batman ended this humiliating "performance". Another reason is that although Batman brought Hendrick and William a lot of wealth, she ate and lived like a pig and a dog, which caused Batman's health to become weaker and weaker.
But despite this, Hendrick and William did not intend to let Batman go, and they continued to squeeze out Batman's last bit of value. Because communication information was not developed at that time, although the British were familiar with Batman, neighboring France was still unknown. So Hendrick and William did the same, and sold Batman to a French animal trainer, and received a large transfer fee.
I want to know that in France, Batman's inhuman life continued. Because Of Batman's huge hips, which set off another upsurge in France, they were like the British, judging Batman. The Tamers were more diverse than Hendrick and William.
In order to make money, the beast trainer not only let Batman show his body, but also let Batman dress up as a variety of beasts, showing the tamed drama and winning eyeballs. And because of the "convenience", the animal trainer also directly locked Up Batman with the circus animals, even eating and living together.
As a result of this physical and mental torture, Batman died just 5 years later, when she was only 26 years old. In fact, in the eyes of many people, death is a relief for Batman, because she has lost her freedom and dignity, and every day she lives in the world is suffering. Perhaps, Batman himself thought the same way.
However, no one thought that even if Batman was tortured to death, the humiliation she suffered did not stop and continued. What's going on? It turned out that shortly after Batman's death, Georges Cuvier, a researcher at the French Society for Scientific Research, paid for Batman's body.
Batman's body was bought for dissection, and Cuvier was an internationally renowned anatomist at the time, and also had an absolute authoritative position in the profession. Cuvier had seen Battman's exhibition and was very interested in Batman's body. Cuvier's account is that the main purpose of buying back Batman's body is to clarify two points: first, whether Batman's buttocks are made of fat or bone; The second is to argue that Africans represented by Batman are closer to apes and are related to chimpanzees.
In fact, from Cuvier's words alone, it can be seen that this well-known and authoritative anthologist did not regard Batman as a human being, but under the guise of science, he did something that destroyed humanity. But later, Cuvier cut Batman's body into multiple parts, and also published his own research paper on Batman in a professional academic conference, using sarah Batman's organ as an example to show that the "Hottendo people" were only uncivilized animals, and that there was a kinship between black people and chimpanzees. Of course, this so-called conclusion has not been confirmed. Rather, the first point of Cuvier's research is that Bateman's buttocks have also been shown to be just ordinary fat compositions, with no other exceptions.
However, in the end, Batman's skull, buttocks, and other organs were preserved as references and packed in glass bottles. It is also placed in the French Museum of Humanity for public exhibitions, but anyone who is interested can go and see it. Most bizarrely, this inhuman exhibition lasted until the 20th century, for more than a hundred years.
Until the 1980s, some European non-profit organizations and local people publicly denounced France's approach. Under public pressure, in 1974, the authorities finally removed Batman's remains from public display, but batman's bones were not returned.
And the African countries and people have not given up, they continue to advocate, demanding the return of Batman's remains and bringing them back to their hometown for burial. The tug-of-war lasted for decades, with French officials finally agreeing to return the bones in 1995, and in 2002, Batman, who had been forced to wander outside for nearly 200 years, finally returned to his hometown. On 9 August 2002, South Africa's "Women's Day", the day of Batman's burial, the people of South Africa want to remember the humiliation that Batman suffered and remember the grave violations of national dignity.
Batman's tragic experience is not an isolated case, she is just a real microcosm of the South African women of that era. The "murderer" who caused this tragedy is also obvious, that is, slavery and colonialism. Perhaps the humiliation of Batman cannot be erased, but her tragedy is a wake-up call for all mankind!