Is Sara Bastman's View Of The African American

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The story of Sara Baartman intertwined with the larger societal view of the entire African people. European adventurers and theorists purposely drew up a negative definition of the black race that transposed them as being superior. For the Europeans, Africans were static in their growth and development, lacked culture, religion and moral values. In fact, such derogatory definition of the black race was based on the narrow-minded, Eurocentric attitude, and the lacked understanding of the African way of life. Consequently, Europeans’ actions demonstrated their main interest was to construct a profile that demeaned and degraded the character of all black people. This was portrayed in the story of Sara Baartman.

By the time Baartman arrived on …show more content…

The transcript made no mention of Baartman’s rights being explained to her. Although Baartman was interviewed alone, she clearly did not understand the process due a cultural and language barriers. She was still under the influence of her “captor” when she was interviewed in the home where she lived with her captor. Baartman presented her interviewers with a contract during her interview, which had been purportedly executed while she was still in the Cape. There is no mention of her signature being affixed on it. Since Baartman could not either read or write, she could not have signed the contract, which for with all intents and purposes, the contract was then null and void without her signature. At the beginning, it indicated that a number of promises were made to Baartman, including receiving a third of the money generated from her exhibitions, but it appears that at the time of the examination she had not gotten paid or her captor would send back with her money. The transcript further indicated that Baartman wanted to stay in England; had no desire to return to her family; was treated kindly; and had no complaints against her “Master.” However, the interviewers did not get a satisfactory answer when she was asked if she wanted to discontinue being exhibited. This was indicative of a person who had being mistreated, scared, oppressed, threatened and held against her will. The interviewer failed to ask Baartman how much she was paid by her captor when she was employed by them in the Cape since she purportedly worked as his “nursery maid.” The interviewer purposely omitted the usage of the word “slave” instead referring to Baartman as a maid. If Baartman was a slave, therefore she was the personal property of her captor and was likely taken to England without her consent. Since slavery was illegal in England, Baartman’s captor would have been in violation of the law. If the court had deemed

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