Stone memorializing P. T. Barnum
Item
- Legacies Classification
- Memorial Type
- Memorialized Subject
- Title
- Background and Context
- Physical Description
- Memorial Inscription
- Creator/Participating Person(s)
- Date created, installed or dedicated
- Historical Period
- Funded by
- Campus Location
- Location: Institution, City, State
- Learn More About this Subject
-
Memorial Object
-
Plaque/Marker
-
Barnum, P. T.
-
Stone memorializing P. T. Barnum
-
The Walk of Fame was created in 1929 by then-President Hamilton Holt to honor significant historical figures. The memorial is located in the center of campus around Mills Lawn.
Phineas Taylor (P. T.) Barnum (1810-1891) was a famous showman in the nineteenth century, who owned slaves and continued to demean African Americans after the Civil War. Several of the attractions to his show were African Americans, such as Joice Heth, a formerly enslaved Virginia woman, who Barnum claimed had been George Washington's nurse. Barnum leased Joice from another entertainment company, and claimed she had been born in 1672 in Madagascar, thus portraying her as exotic and “other.” Barnum also exploited William Henry Johnson, a black man with a neurological condition which impacted his physical features. Arriving at Barnum's circus in the early 1860s, Barnum dressed Johnson in a fur suit, exaggerating his features, implying his staged savagery was intrinsic to all peoples of African descent.
Barnum’s joined the Republican party and served numerous terms in the Connecticut House of Representatives, and also as mayor of Bridgeport. Prior to his political runs, Barnum admitted he participated in the enslavement, claiming that he later changed his views. He confessed, “I ... owned slaves. I did more. I whipped my slaves.” Although Barnum publicly supported the Thirteenth Amendment, he continued to profit from African Americans and racial stereotypes.
The stone originated from Barnum’s estate, “Marina,” in Bridgeport, Connecticut. It was gifted by Barnum’s grandson, Clinton Barnum Seeley and was documented as being part of the collection in March 1944 by W. R. Webster.
-
Large rectangular stone
Gray Coloring
18in x 20in
-
P.T. Barnum: 1810-1891
-
Seeley, Clinton Barnum
Rollins College
Holt, Hamilton
-
March 1944
-
Barnum's Grandson, Clinton Barnum Seeley
Position: 1628 (48 views)