Joice Heth
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Joice Heth (c.1756–February 19, 1836[1]) was an African American slave who was claimed by P.T. Barnum to be 161 years old. 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),[2] she was purchased by P.T. Barnum[3] who began his career as a showman by exhibiting her, claiming her to have been the nurse of George Washington,[4] and to be over a hundred and sixty years old, all of which he may have believed himself.[5] She died the next year; probably her actual age at the time of her death was no more than 80 years.[1] [3]
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b Museum of Hoaxes.
- ^ Benton
- ^ a b The University of Virginia American Studies page on Heth
- ^ "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.
- ^ See Benton's account.
[edit] References
- "P.T. Barnum", Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition.
- Joel Benton, Life of Hon. Phineas T. Barnum, Edgewood Publishing, 1891. Gutenberg edition accessed online 3 December 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.pl:Joice Heth
fi:Joice Heth
