In 1842, William Henry Johnson (aka Zip the Pinhead) was born into a destitute African-American family. His parents were Mahalia and William Johnson, both of which were former slaves. William was one of six children. His unique physical characteristics would soon become very beneficial for the Johnson family.
Although the rest of William’s body grew as expected, his head seemed to remain the same. With a tapered cranium and heavy jaw, he caught the eye of agents from a circus in Somerville, New Jersey. His unique characteristics led to many believing he was microcephalic, frequently referred to as a ‘pinhead.’
Microcephaly
An individual who is born with microcephaly has a small, elongated cranium. Microcephaly is a neurological disorder and
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Barnum decided that he wanted to add him to his own show. Therefore, he asked New Jersey’s van Emburgh’s Circus if he could purchase the right to display William. The circus sold Barnum the rights and William received an entirely new look.
“Zip the Pinhead: What Is It?”
Barnum had a furry suit custom-tailored to fit William and to accent his sloping brow, his hair was styled in such a way as to make it end in a tiny point at the top of his head.
The background story that audiences were told by P.T. Barnum was the same story that the circus had used. Barnum offered a bit more information related to the ‘Wildman’ than the circus did. Audiences were told that William survived by eating raw meat, fruit and nuts: However, he was learning to eat civilized foods. While performing, Zip would never speak and would simply grunt when asked a question or addressed. Barnum stated that Zip was discovered during a gorilla-hunting expedition in Western Africa, near the Gambia River. He also stated that Zip belonged to a naked race of men who traveled about via tree branches.
After telling his back story, William (now referred to as Zip) would be revealed to the audience standing in his cage and rattling the bars while he screeched. Supposedly, Barnum agreed to pay Zip a dollar every day to stay quiet and remain in
Zaddie Johnson had to work hard as a child unlike James Lincoln who had an easy childhood. Johnson was born in 1918 in East Gadsden on a Paden farm. Johnson’s family were sharecroppers during the 20’s and 30’s. Her parents had eight children and she had to work on the farm with her brothers. She said, “Women had to work like
Booker began his life as a slave for the Burroughs family. He was born in
3. A testimony by a morgue worker stated that there were signs of surgery done to his head prior to showing up.
Pinchback was born on May 10, 1837 by former slave Eliza Stewart in Macon, Georgia. He and his family moved to Ohio in 1848, after Pinchback’s father died, in hope to avoid enslavement.
Before there was the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey and their Greatest Show on Earth there was just P.T. Barnum and the Ringling brothers each with their own traveling circus. Barnum’s circus was originally known as P.T. Barnum’s Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan and Circus, which was unveiled as the largest American circus in 1870 and quickly became a hit (Barnum’s Timeline). Then in 1881 Barnum, James Bailey, and James Hutchinson partnered up to create P.T. Barnum’s Greatest Show on Earth & The Great London Circus, which later became Barnum & Bailey’s Greatest Show on Earth in 1888 (P.T. Barnum). Sixteen years after Barnum’s death in 1891, the Ringling brothers bought out their competition, but the two shows continued to tour independently until they were finally combined in 1919 as Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, The Greatest Show on Earth (Bailey and the Ringlings).
John H. Johnson was born January 19, 1918 in rural Arkansas City, Arkansas. His parents were Leroy Johnson and Gertrude Jenkins Johnson. His father was killed in a sawmill accident when little John was eight years old. He attended the community's overcrowded, segregated elementary school. In the early 1930s, there was no public high school for African-Americans in Arkansas. His mother heard of better opportunities for African-Americans in Chicago and saved her meager earnings as a washerwoman and a cook and for years until she could afford to move her family to Chicago. This resulted in them becoming a part of the African-American Great Migration of 1933. There, Johnson was exposed to something he never knew existed, middle class black people.
Maryln Bowlin of Taiban, New Mexico founded the Billy the Kid Outlaw Gang shortly thereafter for the purpose of protecting the true, and well researched, history of William Bonney, aka Billy the Kid.
Rush, Benjamin. Medical Inquiries and Observations, upon the Diseases of the Mind. Diss. Philadelphia: Kimber and Richardson, 1812. Print.
Buffalo Bill was one of the most interesting figures of the old west, and the best known spokesman of the new west. Buffalo Bill was born in 1846 and his real name was William Frederick Cody. Cody was many things. He was a trapper, bullwhacker, Colorado 'Fifty-Niner';, Pony Express rider, Civil War soldier, wagonmaster, stagecoach driver, and even a manager of a hotel. He changed his name to Buffalo Bill sometime in his early twenties for his skill while supplying railroad workers with buffalo meat. He would soon begin his career as one of the most famous prairie scouts of the Indian Wars.
Head is the one displaying ignorance in every spoken.From the beginning of the story Mr. Head is seen as a character extremely selfish and only concerned with ...
1841. He was born of his father, Crazy Horse an Oglala holy man, and his
When he was around the age of eight he was sent to Baltimore to live as a hous...
First let’s discuss what anencephaly is. Anencephaly is a serious birth defect in which a baby is born without parts of the brain and skull. This birth defect happens during the first month of pregnancy and usually before a woman knows she is pregnant. Anencephaly happens if the upper part of the neural tube does
1938-1941 His first dog was an English Shepard named Rex, who was a one man dog and his constant traveling companion. Beginning at about age three, he and his dog Rex had an insatiable desire to explore any place that was outside the house and within walking distance. Since both his mother and dad worked long hours at their respective jobs, he had a daytime black maid whose name was Sanctum. Every time Sanctum would turn her back he and his dog would “run off” and poor Sanctum would telephone his mother and in dismay advise her that “Sonny” had run off again. Since Elkhart had a population of about five hundred, most of the citizens had learned to keep a lookout for this wandering boy. When he was spotted by one of the townsfolk, they would call his mother and tell her of his doings and location. His mother would leave her work, go get him, give him a spanking, and return him to the house and Sanctum. This could happen several times a day. One particular incident that wasn’t revealed to his mother until years later was when he climbed the Elkhart water tower (75 ft.). Some of the townspeople coaxed him down with the promise of candy. His mother, who finally realized that “spanking” was not a deterrent to “running off”, put him in bed for twenty four hours after one of his ventures and would not let him get up although he begged for a spanking instead. H...
Meanwhile for other babies having an underdeveloped brain could cause major physical problems for the child. This could include hearing loss and visual problems which would mean that the child would not be able to recognise voices and its surroundings. Another problem this could cause is feeding problems because the child might not be able to swallow this would cause major issues because the child wouldn't be able to get the nutrients it needs to