Sarah Baartman was a Khoikhoi woman who was displayed in 19th-century Europe as a freak show attraction under the moniker Hottentot Venus, a term that was later attributed to at least one other woman who was similarly exhibited.
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Who brought Sarah Baartman to Europe?
Baartman supposedly signed a contract with English ship surgeon William Dunlop and mixed-race entrepreneur Hendrik Cesars, in whose household she worked, in October 1810, despite her illiteracy, stating that she would travel to England to participate in exhibitions.
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Was Sarah Baartman returned to South Africa?
Parts of her body were displayed in a museum in Paris when she died impoverished in 1816 at the age of 26.
In 2002, her remains were repatriated to South Africa, where she was buried and praised as an icon for women still suffering from racial and sexual assault.


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