Sara Baartman : The Untold Story Of An African Queen

 Born in 1789 in the Eastern part of South Africa (Camdeboo Valley), Sara Baartman is a commonly mentioned name nowadays. This African queen had a rough bringing, many though she was born in Gamtoos Valley but she moved there with her parents, shorts after birth.

Sara lost her mother at the age of 2 and his father who was a trying cattle herder at a very tender age too. To put some food in her stomach for the time being, she got involved into domestic services as many Africans did in the ancient times, she was working for a Dutch Colonist, who murdered his partner whom she just had a child with.

In the year of 1810, regardless of the fact that Sara was illiterate (as she attended no school from birth) was said to "have signed" a contract with a Britain surgeon William Dunlop and a mixed race "businessman" Hendrick Ceasar (his then current boss).

This contract stated that Sarah was to work as a servant and take part in worldwide shows, to make some incentives for her so that she would continue living, the contract also stated that Sara was to be returned to South Africa after 5 years of her services.

This "contract" was deemed to be corruptive in these backgrounds, Sara was illiterate and came from a very poor background that didn't write or kept any records. The second reason is that the family of his boss Ceaser, was seen to face financial difficulties so they used Sara to make money for themselves.

Sara's body and her coloring made her being of fascinating objects by the whites who were racially superior. She was brought to London by Ceasar where she was displayed half naked in a cage that was a meter and a half high, to the white audience.

During Sara's time with her "employers" a campaign against slavery in Britain was put in motion. Sara's treatment was also given the attention but her white 'employers' faced no real charges. They produced a document that was said to be the contract of whatever it is that they did to Sara was of her own choice.

In 1814, Ceasar sold her to a French vert showman named Reaux. This showman raped and impregnated Sara as a result their baby died at an age of 5 by an unknown reason. Sarah was put to a cage with animals during shows in France and as a result her health declined.

At the age of 26, she died and within a few hours of his death a French scientist George Cuvier was given a permission to dissect her, and his attention was to buttocks, private parts and brain. After her dissection her skeleton was placed for display in a French museum.

In 1995, President Nelson Rholihlahla Mandela requested the French government to return those remains of Sara so she could be laid to rest in her country of origin. Even though it took 8 for them to return those remains, Sarah was finally laid to rest during the national women's day in 9 August 2002, at Hankey in the Eastern Cape.

Sara's story inspired many black women to be proud of their melanin skin, and express themselves freely without the fear of being judged.