Circassian beauties, or “Moss-haired girls” as they were sometimes known, reflect a curious legacy of racial stereotyping and sexual titillation. Racial theories of the mid 19th century held that the people living in the Circassian mountains near the Black Sea were examples of the “purest stock” of the Caucasian race. Legend had it that the Circassians produced the world’s most beautiful white women, who were consequently in great demand for the harems of Turkish sultans.
The long shadow of slavery can also be discerned in this hybrid depiction. American audiences were both intrigued and horrified, given their false association of slavery with Africans, by the fact that Circassian women were among the most sought-after concubines in the Sultan’s harem - hence the need to make them appear somewhat African. “Both African slaves and Circassian slaves were subject to sexual exploitation … and this is the point of contact that played so powerfully on white Americans’ imagination,” wrote philosophy professor Gregory Fried.
Acting on this myth in 1864, P.T. Barnum sent one of his agents to Constantinople to purchase one of these beautiful ladies in the slave market. Though Barnum claimed his agent, dressed in full Turkish costume, had there seen a large number of beautiful Circassian girls and women, for one reason or another he failed to return with one. Not to be denied his harem slave, Barnum hired a frizzy-haired local woman, put her in a Turkish costume and dubbed her Zalumma Agra, Star of the East. Zalumma’s story was a mixture of pseudo-science, folklore, and erotic suggestion about harem life.
The Circassian beauty was an instant success, soon to be followed by a succession of ‘imported’ beauties with an enigmatic letter Z figuring prominently in all their names. All of these women were local girls, most of whom were encouraged to wash their hair in beer and then tease it out for that exotic Circassian ‘do.
When the public began to lose interest in this tale, Circassian beauties were frequently cast in the role of snake charmers in order to try and milk a bit more erotic appeal out of the act.
The long shadow of slavery can also be discerned in this hybrid depiction. American audiences were both intrigued and horrified, given their false association of slavery with Africans, by the fact that Circassian women were among the most sought-after concubines in the Sultan’s harem - hence the need to make them appear somewhat African. “Both African slaves and Circassian slaves were subject to sexual exploitation … and this is the point of contact that played so powerfully on white Americans’ imagination,” wrote philosophy professor Gregory Fried.
Acting on this myth in 1864, P.T. Barnum sent one of his agents to Constantinople to purchase one of these beautiful ladies in the slave market. Though Barnum claimed his agent, dressed in full Turkish costume, had there seen a large number of beautiful Circassian girls and women, for one reason or another he failed to return with one. Not to be denied his harem slave, Barnum hired a frizzy-haired local woman, put her in a Turkish costume and dubbed her Zalumma Agra, Star of the East. Zalumma’s story was a mixture of pseudo-science, folklore, and erotic suggestion about harem life.
The Circassian beauty was an instant success, soon to be followed by a succession of ‘imported’ beauties with an enigmatic letter Z figuring prominently in all their names. All of these women were local girls, most of whom were encouraged to wash their hair in beer and then tease it out for that exotic Circassian ‘do.
When the public began to lose interest in this tale, Circassian beauties were frequently cast in the role of snake charmers in order to try and milk a bit more erotic appeal out of the act.
Circassian = Normal women wearing P.T. Barnum's wigs
ReplyDeleteWhy do you perpetuate these racial stereotypes when they have been historically proven to be false?
Would you be offended if someone posted images of Vietnamese people with zippers running along their hairlines? Yes, I think you would.
Time to face some unpleasant facts, Khanh...you simply do not possess the global cultural awareness needed to run a website of this type effectively.
Your users have been telling you this, you have been ignoring them, and they have been abandoning your site as a result.
This is a very good example of why that is.
Do yourself a favor, and learn from it.
Slow down please, and enjoy the info. It is history and has to be known.
ReplyDeleteIt is not history, it is fiction.
DeleteLike mermaids.
The fact that you think it is real tells a lot about why this site has turned into such a laughing stock.
"Not to be denied his harem slave, Barnum hired a frizzy-haired local woman, put her in a Turkish costume and dubbed her Zalumma Agra, Star of the East...The Circassian beauty was an instant success, soon to be followed by a succession of ‘imported’ beauties with an enigmatic letter Z figuring prominently in all their names. All of these women were local girls, most of whom were encouraged to wash their hair in beer and then tease it out for that exotic Circassian ‘do’."
DeleteSo even if you don't know that a word highlighted like this ‘_____’ denotes sarcasm, the context should have given it away. It clearly states that he hired local women to pretend to be Circassians. This is not Circassian history, it is American history, and the weird things that went on in the 19th century.
Wow, an obscure story like this that is fun to read, brings out the SJW. Check out the first comment. Enjoy the story, stop bringing your hate into this. It is fun to read and enjoy that people actually believed stuff like this, hence the reason they are no longer out there entertaining people, we got smart, not hate filled like you the first poster.
ReplyDeleteSo... the carpet matches the drapes I'm guessing? (oh relax... that was funny.)
ReplyDelete