Themes in American History

Barnum’s museum served an important function by allowing the middle class to develop a sense of their own daily life in contrast to that of the “freak”, keeping New York gazing in wonder for decades. Under the disguise of entertainment and education the Barnum Museum became the foremost house of spectacle of popular culture in the 19^th century. Barnum’s combination of the freak show along with educational displays such as animals and a aquarium (which unfortunately couldn’t see because it was closed L ) and morality plays (located on the third floor which also showed tips about etiquette and fire prevention/solution) ensured success for his museum because it created a spectacular space in which entertainment, wonder, and education appeared together in one place. Unfortunately not everything looks as good as it sounds. Some people were complaining about the conditions in which the animals were living in describing how cruel it was. The complaint letter stated that the animals did not have any ventilation and that was also very dangerous to the visitors if a fire may occur.

Looking around the Lost Museum’s website I found a picture of a white lady with afro hair. I clicked in the archive’s link and found out something really interesting. That woman in the picture was Zalumma Agra, one of Barnum’s Circassian Beauties. Many Circassian women, prized for their beauty, were sold into slavery. The primary requirement for women who played Circassians was that they be attractive and it seems, according to the website, that Zalumma was not really a circassian woman because her English was fluent and she didn’t know almost anything about that place. So it could have been any local girl with just teased hair paid to pose as a “harem refugee”. However, what it was most intriguing to me was that these women were looked as “examples of racial purity”.

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