Woman Once on Display Buried With Dignity
With a solemn burial ceremony, South Africa sought to restore dignity to an indigenous woman displayed as the “Hottentot Venus” in Europe two centuries ago.
The remains of Saartjie Baartman, also known as Sarah, had been stored in a museum in France. Baartman became a symbol of the humiliation and subjugation experienced by the indigenous groups, particularly the Khoisan to which she belonged, under colonialism and then apartheid.
Hundreds of people attended the funeral in the town of Hankey, where Baartman was born in 1789.
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