u/EphemeralTypewriter

Afong Moy was the first recorded Chinese woman to travel to the United States and did so in 1834. Chinese culture was seen as being extremely foreign by most white western audiences at the time, so her performances were very popular. Despite being pressed into a stereotyped role of what audiences expected a Chinese woman to act like, she was able to turn the depiction around by speaking about the harmful effects of stereotypes and the damage that racism can do.

She also went on to have a daughter named Andrea in 1979.

Gloria was an accomplished singer, comedian, and actress, who also had a career in sideshows and enjoyed writing in her free time.
She was born with a form of dwarfism and made newspaper headlines after Anthony was born because he was almost as tall as her.
Gloria's peak height was 29 inches (73.66 cm).
She had been diligently working on a memoir in her twenties, but it sadly doesn't appear that her book was released.

I first found out about this bizarre version of meatloaf from a cookbook I had a as a kid. It disgusted me then and it disgusts me now!

Stan (who went by Sealo for almost his entire career) was born with phocomelia which caused his hands to grow directly from his shoulders. Before becoming a performer, he worked as a newspaper boy during part of his early life. He was known for having a fun and friendly personality and was an avid card player! He also really enjoyed smoking cigars.

What Julius went through as a kid is heartbreaking and I hope that he was ultimately able to distance himself from his parents, no one should ever suffer that kind of neglect and abuse, especially from their parents.

There have been circumstances when performers are exhibited by their parents to earn money because of extreme financial difficulties, but in these cases parents always traveled with their children to ensure their safety and genuinely wanted to give their children better lives.

I hope he was able to find a community of people who cared about him in the circuses he worked at. I also hope he experienced a lot of happiness during his life.

Some facts about him:

\-he was born in Brooklyn, New York.

\-his parents had arranged for him to perform as a “Siberian wild boy” at a fairgrounds in Chicago, Illinois when he was 7 years old in 1918. Once people recognized that he was so young, the authorities were called to take him from the exhibit.

\-it’s reported that his parents were being paid $25 a week for Julius to be exhibited. He was often made to sit in a cage from 3pm until midnight being forced to do his acts.

\-while at the Chicago fairgrounds, his act consisted of running around on all fours and barking.

\-he was placed in an institution while his parents were being located.

\-his parents were arrested on charges of child endangerment and brought to court, (but I can’t find any further information on what came of this)

\-he had some neurodivergence that was caused by his condition and it was determined that he was more in line with 4 year olds mentally when he was 7 years old.

\-his father owned a very successful tailor shop in Hollywood.

\-he entered the circus/sideshow industry again as an adult, although this may have again been at the request of his parents.

\-he was on the higher functioning side of the microcephaly spectrum, and didn’t require any aid in dressing or feeding himself.

\-similar to a lot of other performers who were born with microcephaly, Julius’ head was shaved with the exception of a small tuft of hair at the top of his head to emphasize his head shape.

\-he spent several seasons with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus in the 1930s.

\-he was VERY particular about his haircut and beard (of which he was very proud of) and would get really stressed if he felt a barber ever cut too much hair off. Thankfully, it seems that the barbers who tended to the sideshow performers accommodated him well and made sure to do his haircut exactly how he liked it.

\-while many sideshow performers liked going into town on Sundays, he enjoyed staying at the fairgrounds.

\-he was working for Glenn Porter’s Circus Sideshow in 1948.

\-as an adult, he was often hired by circuses and sideshows to play clowns and usually wore a clown suit.

\-he went on tour all over the world.

\-he had a small career in Hollywood and was featured in a couple films that starred Bella Lugosi and Boris Karloff.

\-his coworkers described him as someone who was very friendly and happy even if he didn’t talk too much.

\-he passed away in 1985 at the age of 75.

He looks like such a friendly and happy person and must have been a great guy to know. I also love that there seemed to be at least a couple people who cared for him and made accommodations for him, even so small as his barbers taking the time to make sure his haircut was just right.

I’m still looking into which films he was featured in because it would be great to find out and watch him on the silver screen! If I find any information, I’ll be sure to let people here know!

I’ve previously featured Dolly (and Rolly) the Cow, who was also born with a form of craniofacial duplication, although hers was more pronounced and had a complete extra face. I’ll put Dolly’s write up in the comments.

Historically, animals were not always treated well in traveling sideshow and carnival environments, but in Andy’s case it may have been a good thing, as it allowed him to live out his natural life as opposed to being slaughtered had he not been born with a physical difference. It’s a very complex and layered situation.

Some facts about him:

-he was born in Arkansas.

-he was born with four eyes, four horns, and two nasal passages.

-he went on tour as a sideshow attraction when he was six months old with his original owner H.W. Douglas from Fort Smith, Arkansas.

-as a calf he once experienced an intestinal infection, but thankfully recovered after being visited by a traveling vet while on tour.

-he was purchased when he was two years old by a man named Wilbur Rasor, who brought Andy with him to Ohio.

-while in Ohio, Andy’s owner began marketing him on signs along Route 40, a transcontinental east-west highway that spans from California to New Jersey and cuts right through Ohio. Andy also had a specialty built barn just for him on the Rasor’s property.

-Andy quickly became a very popular tourist attraction, with passing travelers on Route 40 stopping to meet Andy, feed him food that Wilbur Rasor had available, and buy his picture. There was a 25 cent entry fee for tourists to go see Andy.

-Andy’s owner never allowed pictures to be taken of him, so if people wanted to remember him, they’d have to buy postcards with his picture on them.

-he was once featured in a Ripley’s Believe It Or Not cartoon from the 1950s.

-he was very well liked by people who visited him and was described as being relatively calm.

-Wilbur Rasor started bringing Andy on tours with traveling sideshows in the late 1940s/early 1950s and was often exhibited next to taxidermied animals with physical differences that Wilbur had collected.

-Andy passed away in 1956 at the age of 12, which is a very impressive age due to the health complications that often arise in animals that are born with forms of conjoined/parasitic twinning.

-after Andy’s death his head was taxidermied and preserved, and brought back to Wilbur Rasor’s farmhouse, where it stayed until 1976. Then his head was donated to the Brookville Ohio Historical Society.

-eventually his head was then moved to a community run roadside museum called the Spitler House, also in Brookville, Ohio. Where it was moved to the basement, because it was seen as not appropriate for the rest of the museum. At one point in time, advertising that his taxidermied head was on display would have been a big draw for tourists, but in the decades after Andy’s death, that kind of roadside attraction isn’t as popular as it once was.

-to this day, his head remains on display at the Spitler house, but is never advertised in any way and largely remains unnoticed by people stopping at the museum. However, the people running the museum have redone the basement area to dedicate a little shrine to Andy and the other taxidermied animals on display there.

It does seem that both of Andy’s owners deeply cared about him, especially Wilbur Rasor and family. I hope he was shown a lot of love during his life. I think he looks very sweet, and I’m glad he had a long life.

People from the Kayan Lahwi community are often referred to as ‘Padaung’ by westerners. The term ‘Padaung’ in reference to them was originally coined by the Shan community in Myanmar and Thailand, and is a term that is rejected by the Kayan Lahwi community, so therefore I will not be using it.

The origin of the traditional neck rings is not entirely clear, but there have been several theories as to how the tradition came to be, including some very racist and demeaning ways to interpret the origin.

No matter where the practice actually originated from, up until very recently the custom was used as an expression of feminine beauty and a show of social status. (More recently more and more women are opting not to wear the rings.)

Women from the Kayan Lahwi community began being brought over to the United States and England in the 1930s by circus showmen hoping to make a profit off of these women’s distinctive appearances. Many women were forcibly removed from their communities in a way that was very similar to how ‘human zoos’ operated and found people to be within their exhibits.

Similar to a lot of other sideshow acts that promoted the exoticism of particular communities of people, the women were given a fictional backstory that was told alongside their performances. These fictional backstories often involved some sort of sexual or violent aspects to push a narrative of otherness and exoticism.

Historically, circuses and sideshows were known to exploit and profit off of people and cultures that were deemed exotic by white western audiences. And the Kayan Lahwi community was no different.

Many people that were being exploited because of their culture also did their best to advocate for themselves and their community as a way to normalize cultural differences and spread a positive view on different minority groups.

More recently (as of the mid 2000s/early 2010s), the Myanmar government and younger women have been gravitating towards removing the rings as they have long been exploited by people who have no awareness of the cultural importance and history of them.

Delores was a well known sideshow performer who had a pituitary gland tumor, which caused her to be 7'9 feet tall (2.36 m.). She was well liked in school and played on her middle school's basketball team until she was injured and had to stop playing. She went through several surgeries and medical procedures during her life and used her earnings from sideshow work to pay for the procedures. She was featured in the 10th edition of the Guinness Book of World Records as being the tallest living woman. She was very social and enjoyed spending time with family and friends, when she wasn't working in sideshows, she worked as Sunday school teacher and sang in her church's choir.

The first picture shows her with one of her prized fans that she enjoyed collecting. I also love the hairpiece she’s wearing in the second picture, she always dressed so elegantly!

I always love coming across stories of people who used their platforms to advocate for different societal issues that were important to them. I’m glad that Alize was able to speak out for the respect of people with dwarfism, it seems like her efforts were successful as well!

Some facts about her:

-She was born near Matanzas, Cuba.

-her family was middle class and her parents provided her with singing lessons from a young age.

-she had 5 siblings and was the oldest child in her family.

-she was a university graduate, but I haven’t been able to find which university she attended.

-she traveled to the United States in 1896, when she was 26, in hopes of pursuing her dream as a professional dancer and performer.

-her professional debut in the United States was at a lounge at the Metropolitan Hotel in New York in 1896.

-she was very popular in vaudeville theaters and spent the majority of her performing career traveling between major vaudevillian venues.

-one of her brothers and one of her cousins acted as her managers.

-she was a very skilled singer and dancer

-all of her clothes were custom made and were known for being very opulent.

-she enjoyed collecting decorative fans.

-she went on tour all throughout the United States starting in 1901, and went on a European tour in 1905.

-she performed for US President, William McKinley, in 1901. After her song and dance routine, McKinley was so impressed that he pinned a pink carnation to her dress.

-she performed at the Pan American Exhibition in 1901 held in Buffalo, New York. She was eventually crowned the mascot of the fair by the director, William Buchanan.

-she spoke at least 3 languages, Spanish, English, and Italian.

-she married a man named Anthony Woeckner from Eerie, Pennsylvania in 1901. The two had met when she was working at the Pan-American Exposition and he was working as a musician.

-she often spoke to American audiences about the struggles that Cuba faced in the aftermath of the Spanish American War, and in doing so also promoted American tourism in the country.

-she was very patriotic for her home country. (This was also before the Cold War and the Cuban Missile Crisis, so the United States still held a positive opinion of Cuba)

-her peak height was reported to be around 26 inches (66 cm.)

-she advocated against using the term ‘doll’ when referring to her or other people born with dwarfism, and also spoke out against people who tried to treat her as a toy or something other than a regular person.

-she continuously had sold out shows and was very popular among women and children.

-near the end of her life, she and her husband had traveled to Guadalajara, Mexico because she was experiencing ill health and they felt the warm weather would help her.

-she passed away when she was 64.

-her legacy lives on in the form of a book that was inspired by her life called ‘Chiquita’ and written by novelist Antonio Orlando Rodríguez.

I’m glad she had a long and happy life and had a really nice marriage. I’m also happy that she was able to fulfill her dreams of being a popular singer and dancer. I hope she was able to collect so many nice decorative fans during her life, it would be really nice if there could be a museum with her collection, but I haven’t been able to find what happened to them.

Tom was an extremely famous pianist and performer who was blind and autistic (though his autism wasn’t diagnosed during his lifetime because it hadn’t been categorized/understood at the time) Tom was born enslaved in 1849 in Georgia, United States. Though because he was blind from birth, he wasn’t forced to work on the plantation.

He was a piano prodigy and it’s very clear that music and the piano were his favorite special interests, with people saying that if it were up to him, he’d probably sit at the piano and play for 12-14 hours a day.

Tragically, he was exploited for profit and all of the money that was made during his piano performances was stolen from him. Had he received the money, he would have been a multimillionaire.

I really enjoy learning about Tom because I can relate to the different behaviors he did (that are all signs of autism, but again weren’t understood at the time). He had major special interests that took up most of his time, he demonstrated echolalia (repeating words, phrases, and sounds after hearing them in one’s environment) throughout his life (which I also do), and his stimming behaviors were documented (a way for him to self soothe if he was having a difficult time processing a situation).

The performer portraying Olga would wear a mask (sometimes described as a crown) of mirrors that reflected an interior series of wires. The illusion was very convincing (to the point where even I’m in awe of how convincing it looks) and remained popular in sideshows for decades.

The illusion debuted in the United States in 1937 and even made an appearance at the 1939 New York World’s Fair.

The most popular name used for this illusion was Olga, but other names like Tina and Mademoiselle Yvette were also used.

The story that usually accompanied these acts involves a young woman who had tragically lost her head during a horrifying accident, but through the marvels of science and a talented doctor was able to be kept alive despite the loss of her head.

Eliza had a very successful career as a professional ’fat lady’. It’s reported that she weighed 700 pounds, which may have been caused by a hormone condition of some kind. She had a very kind and friendly attitude and was known for her grand entrances into the towns she was to be performing in, often times arriving in an extravagant carriage being pulled by a team of horses. She enjoyed dressing opulently and had a fondness for clothes with bright colors.

WOW!! I’m amazed at the community’s growth and it brings me so much joy to share about the lives of all of these important historical figures.

As many of you know, I handle the majority of the posts in this sub, not at all by design, it just ended up that way, and I definitely encourage people to feel comfortable posting here, this is an inclusive space and I want everyone to feel welcome!

It makes me so happy that all of these wonderful historical figures are being appreciated in the way they deserve to be.💖

For anyone interested, we also have a sister sub, r/disabilityhistory! I’m doing my best to curate and grow both subs, though sometimes it can be difficult for me to post to both.

If anyone has any questions or comments regarding the sub specifically, feel free to reach out via modmail or in this post directly!

I’ll begin adding megathreads regarding specific topics, so I can keep everything organized and in one place!

I’m also working on a lot of behind the scenes stuff and I really appreciate everyone’s patience, because I know it’s taking a long time!

Ultimately, I’m so glad we have this wonderful community where we can spread positivity and happiness through sharing this unique part of history!💖

Have a great week everyone!

(I apologize for all of the reposts, I was having internet issues and didn’t realize how many times this post was posted! I kept getting errors that it didn’t post on my end)

(On a very technical level, Joannes is considered to be a parasitic twin)

I like reading stories of performers who had parasitic twins that they cared deeply for. There’s an understanding and a sibling bond that while a little different is still just as important.

With modern medical advancements the vast majority of children born with parasitic twins get them removed as babies or in childhood, thought occasionally it can be difficult in countries that have less medical resources on hand.

Some facts about them:

-they were born in Genoa, Italy.

-both twins were baptized.

-they had several siblings.

-they began their performing career as children, and were subjected to several medical examinations around this time as well. (I haven’t been able to find out about the context of their early performing careers, so I’m not sure how involved their parents were.)

-the twins both had curly blond hair.

-Lazarus considered Joannes to be just as much a brother as anyone else, and took great offense to anyone who mocked or made fun of him.

-Joannes is considered to be more of a parasitic twin because of his apparent lack of conscious thought, but he was more fully formed than most other parasitic twins (since Joannes consisted of a head, chest, arms, and a leg), so I consider his case to be a little different.

-Lazarus exhibited himself and his twin all throughout Europe, making major stops in Switzerland, Germany, Poland, Denmark, Spain, Scotland, France, and England.

-while on tour, Lazarus frequently spoke to medical professionals who wished to examine him and Joannes.

-Joannes could not speak or move independently except for small movements like his eyelids fluttering. His mouth always remained open and he was known do drool.

-Lazarus and his twin traveled with two attendants while on tour.

-Lazarus once got a life sized portrait commissioned of himself that he hung outside the venues he exhibited himself and Joannes at.

-sometimes Lazarus’ exhibition venues were just the lodges that he stayed at during his travels. To announce the beginning of his shows, one of his attendants would blow a trumpet and announce that Lazarus and his twin were ready to receive visitors.

-it was described that if someone pushed on Joannes’ chest, that his ear, lips, and arms would move.

-the twins made an appearance in front of King Charles I of England in the mid 1630s.

-Lazarus was described as being a gentleman and very handsome, who came from a well to do family.

-when Lazarus wasn’t exhibiting himself and his twin, he covered Joannes up with a cloak.

It was reported in different medical journals that Lazarus had had three major illnesses during his life and required blood letting each time (as was typical practice at the time).

-Joannes had persistent halitosis (bad breath).

-a promotional pamphlet about him claimed he was an Italian Count.

-Lazarus enjoyed dressing opulently and wore the clothes of a courtier for some of his portraits.

-Joannes had a beard that was left unkempt.

-when Lazarus did any major physical activities, such as exercising, he would tie Joannes’ chest to his so that he ( Lazarus) coukd move more fluidly.

-Lazarus enjoyed playing handball as a sport.

-it’s reported that in the mid 1630s Lazarus was sentenced to death for the murder of a drunk man who had attacked and mocked Joannes, and in a fit of rage Lazarus had struck him in the head, which killed the man. But after the moral dilemma of sentencing Joannes, an innocent man, to death as well, the court reversed its decision and let Lazarus go.

-both Lazarus and doctors he met with agreed not to remove Joannes, as Lazarus cared a lot for his brother and doctors felt any operation to remove Joannes would have killed his brother.

-the last major stop on their tour was in Scotland in the early 1640s, upon leaving in 1642, there is much less promotional material written about the twins.

-Lazarus and his twin were well documented during their lives due to the vast amount of people that Lazarus met with personally to talk about his and Joannes’ lives. One of these people was Danish anatomist, Thomas Bartholin, who wrote a detailed account of the brothers in 1645.

-Bartholin described that Joannes would sometimes experience different bodily functions apart from his brother, such as sweating, sleeping or waking, when Lazarus wasn’t doing any of these things.

-there is an unverified report that Lazarus may have gotten married and had children in the late 1640s after his touring and performances had ended.

I like the thought of Lazarus getting married and having children because it shows that he did have people in his life who both respected him and respected Joannes. I also think it’s nice that the twins traveled with two attendants that also clearly respected them both.

It’s really interesting to read up on both of them and I highly recommend checking out the book, The Two-Headed Boy, and Other Medical Marvels by Jan Bondeson, as there is an excellent chapter dedicated to the two of them.

Lavinia Warren was a famous circus performer who was born with a form of dwarfism. She was already an incredibly accomplished ballerina and school teacher before she achieved her celebrity status. She achieved celebrity status after getting married to the most famous circus performer of the mid 1800s, Charles Sherwood Stratton (aka General Tom Thumb). Lavinia was a motivated and fierce businesswoman and would often be the one to negotiate business deals with PT Barnum. She was very outspoken and advocated for women with dwarfism. She spoke out against the usage of the term 'Doll' when referring to herself as well as others who were objectified because of their appearance.

I wish the artwork of him as a baby didn’t have to expose him in such a vulnerable way. This image of him was most likely only published in medical journals, but I still don’t think it’s right since he couldn’t consent to how he was depicted and where the image was being published. I’ve blurred everything for his privacy in both images.

I do think he was an adorable baby boy and I love the little flower crown and the baby rattle he was given. I hope he had people who cared about and supported him during his life.

Some facts about him:

-he was born in Faro, Portugal.

-he had two siblings.

-he was first brought to see a doctor about his condition when he was 6 months old. It was during this series of examinations that an etching was drawn of him.

-he was first exhibited by his parents when he was 6 months old.

-he was described as being a very lively and outgoing boy.

-in addition to extra leg, he also had an extra set of genitalia and an extra bladder.

-it was determined by doctors that his extra leg was actually two limbs that had fused and grown together as one, unlike Francesco Lentini who was born with an extra fully formed and functional extra leg.

-he had no motor control over his extra leg.

-as an adult he primarily exhibited himself in special exhibits in and around Paris, France, and turned down job offers from traditional French circuses.

-as an adult he was advised by physicians to get his extra leg removed, but he declined.

-he was examined by doctors a second time when he was 22 years old and in Havana, Cuba.

-he supposedly had a high libido, though this was always a claim that was attached to any performer that happened to have an extra set of genitalia, because of this stereotype I’m shying away from saying that his high libido was 100% verifiably true.

-he typically wore a sling to hold his extra leg or tied it to one of his dominant legs, so that it didn’t just hang uncomfortably from his body.

-he was fond of horses and was an avid horseback rider.

-he was known to be very charming and handsome as an adult.

-he became acquainted with and later friends with Blanche Dumas, another performer who was born with a parasitic twin that gave her an extra leg and an extra set of genitalia.

-there are several rumors that Juan and Blanche had a torrid affair (because they both had two sets of genitalia), but this affair was never proven. I like to think that they were friends because they could really understand each other’s experiences.

I haven’t been able to find information about when he passed away. I hope he was able to have a long and happy life, hopefully involving something related to his passion for horseback riding! I’m glad he was able to connect with Blanche Dumas as I’m sure it was comforting to know that there was at least one other person out there with the same condition he had.

Yao Defen was a Chinese woman who was notable for being the tallest woman in the world during her lifetime. Her peak height was 7 feet
7 inches due to a pituitary gland tumor. Her family struggled financially for much of her life and in order to help support her parents she performed in some Chinese carnivals. She dealt with chronic pain throughout most of her life due to the pressure on her joints due to her height. She was very self conscious about her height and preferred staying at home because she received less negative attention that way.
She had an operation done to remove her tumor in 2002 and expressed a lot of gratitude because she had been waiting several decades to get the tumor removed.

I wish there were color pictures of her, or at least color tinted pictures of her, I’d love to see how brightly colored all of her tattoos were. I love how sparkly her outfit looks in the first picture and I imagine her performances must have been very special if she was sparkling the entire time.

The third picture shows the painting of her that was done by German artist, Otto Dix, which she looks absolutely fabulous in!

Some facts about her:

-she was born in Löchau, Braunau, Bohemia.

-in her late teens, she immigrated to Vienna, Austria.

-she initially found work as a housekeeper.

-she met her husband, Siegmund Forst, while she was living in Austria.

-her first public appearance was in March of 1912 at the Palais de danse in Vienna, Austria, but apparently wasn’t tattooed at the time, and was instead a part of a beauty contest event called "Apotheosis of international women's beauty". She was 24 at the time.

-she and her husband traveled to Berlin, Germany in 1912, where they lived for a year and a half.

-Unfortunately, her husband was drafted at the start of WWI. It was during this same time that Genovefa met and became friends with German showman and tattoo artist, Kurt Schulz. (I haven’t been able to find information of what happened to her husband after WWI.)

-she became fascinated with circus life and agreed to let Schulz tattoo her body so that she could be a part of the troupe.

-all of her larger tattoos were different variations of red, orange, and yellow and were connected by vines of green ivy that were tattooed all over her body.

-her acts were seen as more risqué than other ‘tattooed ladies’ at the time (who were already considered very risqué.)

-she was described as being very charming.

-she preferred her larger tattoos to depict little scenes instead of having a main subject, such as a scene depicting a man and a woman sitting at a table, and a forest scene depicting a tree and a man on a horse.

-some of her other notable tattoos included an angel, a lighthouse, a church, a star, a sailing ship, and two sphinxes.

-the peak of her career was in the 1920s. She toured with both Schulz’s sideshow as well as the Nouveau Cirque de Paris.

*-*she primarily toured through Europe, but also went on a brief international tour in which she stopped in some North American and South American countries.

-she was one of the headlong acts at many of the sideshows she worked at and was very successful at selling souvenir pictures of herself.

-a portrait of her was painted by German expressionist artist, Otto Dix, in 1920, and later a limited series of etchings in the same style in 1922. Interestingly, these portraits of her are more stylized and don’t depict the exact tattoos she had.

-a documentary was released about her life in 2013 called ‘In Everlasting Memory of the Life of Genovefa Forst, née Weisser’

-I haven’t been able to find too much information about her later life, but it appears that she may have been interrogated by the Gestapo during WWII, as per a brief description I read about the documentary about her.

-she passed away in 1963 at the age of 75.

I’m surprised she decided to stay in Europe during both World Wars, and I imagine it must have been really scary. I hope she was ultimately able to have a safe and happy retirement away from it all.

I think it’s wonderful that she’s been memorialized in a documentary, I hope to be able to find a version of it online, but so far I haven’t had any luck.