Barnum made his first investment in what he called, Barnum’s American Museum. He had everything a typical museum would have, from paintings to sculptures to mummified bodies. Arguably, the most popular installment at P.T. Barnum’s museum was the Feejee Mermaid. Barnum claimed that he had found a mermaid and was exhibiting it at his museum. Evidently, this brought hundreds of people to the Barnum American Museum eager to see what this mermaid looked like. They could hardly believe that such a thing was real and had to see it in person. Upon arrival they realized, this wasn’t a real mermaid but rather an art project for Barnum. He sewed together the upper body of a monkey and the second half of a fish. His audience couldn’t believe that they had just been fooled. This was great for Barnum because he knew that those who were tricked would want to get their friends and family to fall for the same trick as they did. Spreading the hoax across the country and entertaining many. His purpose was to entertain people through his tricks, with the main drive and interest of his museum coming from his hoaxes. Another one of his popular hoaxes was bout the missing link between humans and apes. Entitled, “What is it?” this image displayed an African American man that Barnum used to create a fear in his audience. Those that were gullible enough to believe that the blacks were less than human. This was understandably very easy for Barnum to pull off, for the white Americans…
father confronts him about it, he contemplates lying; however, his guilt gets the best of him, and he decides to come clean and confess that he did, in fact, cut down the tree. Washington’s father appreciated his son’s honesty and was no longer angry. While this is an inspiring story and a great lesson for young children, Lengel brings to light the realization that this is a fabricated story created by money-hungry author, Parson Weems. Lengel writes about him, “Weems was the father of popular…
Phineas Taylor Barnum, or better known as "P. T." Barnum, described as a “jack of all trades” is an understatement. As a self-made businessman (or scammer), showman (or humbug), newspaper editor (or libeler), he lived a life of exhausted passion and success. He tells his own story in his autobiography, The Life of P.T. Barnum of living in 19th century America. P.T. Barnum’s optimistic and exuberant charisma certainly helped him make a profit, yet that alone did not gain him the title of a…
ideas for combatting terrorism, he said, "I myself could not have drawn up better what Europe needs." (Simon, 2016) Even Czech President Miloš Zeman declared he was “very happy” with Trump’s election victory, saying he cut through political correctness and addressed key issues like migration. Guardian Staff. (2016, November 09). So it is something to wait and see what happens between the relations of the U.S. and other countries, after all Trump is a businessman just like a showman or…
The State Art Museum of Florida, known as The Ringling , was once owned by one of the wealthiest men of the Roaring twenties, John Ringling. This museum is located in Sarasota, Florida and houses some of the most prominent works of art representing the culture and time of Europe back then and still continues to grow to this day. It opened it doors to the public in 1931, which was two years after the death of John’s wife Mable, hoping it would “promote education and art appreciation, especially…
Ban the Bullhook, written by Huffington Post is an article spreading awareness on an important protection measure for elephants. Recently the California Senate has had a tremendous amount of feedback regarding this issue that pertains to elephants currently being held in captive. The bullhook is used frequently to inflict pain on elephants in attempts to control them using nothing but fear. The bullhook, also referred to as the “guide” that looks like a long thin pole with a point out of the…
policy that needs to be enacted to ensure healthy elephant welfare is the termination of the use of elephants in circuses all together. Not being able to walk long distances with a herd full of other elephants because they are confined to chains or small enclosures contributes to the loss of mental sanity. The established dominance of circus trainers through negative reinforcement has also been seen as a cause of PTSD in captive elephants. Eliminating them from the circus and retiring them to…
practical to have a whale that performs and makes babies. SeaWorld claims that they use a reproductive system on captured whales to keep their population from becoming instinct, yet research shows that the only whales that are in danger are Gargasz 3 whales off of British Columbia and Washington. Therefore, the claims that SeaWorld is making about keeping whales from becoming in danger, just does not hold water. These whales have been breeding for decades, and there has been no claims that…
Popcorn is thrown at them. Cheers arose from the crowd as the torture on the tiger increases. Whips lash onto the tiger’s fur, scarring them for life. That mark will forever stay as a reminder of the cruel circus acts that tigers have to go through. When tigers are used for human amusement tigers are affected in circuses, cages, and captivity. Tigers in circuses are affected in many ways.Circus tigers are not treated well and don’t have good lives. Circus tigers are often beaten or starved if…
Should animals perform in circuses? Would you ever feel happy if your freedom all of the sudden is snatched away by an unknown entity and is forced to forever do their bidding? Would you ever feel at ease if suddenly you were taken away from your family knowing that you could never see them again until the end of time? And just imagine, how would it feel like to be embarrassed in front of hundreds if not thousands of people doing tricks that could bring harm to your body? Certainly never we…