They Stole It Part 2 — Teacher Resources | Hotep Creations

They Stole It Part 2

Teacher Resources

Her Body Was Mocked. Now It's a Billion-Dollar Industry.

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Quiz — They Stole It Part 2

PART A — MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. Where was Sarah Baartman from, and what people did she belong to?

B) South Africa, Khoikhoi people.

Students should be able to identify both Baartman's country of origin and her specific ethnic group. Sarah Baartman was born around 1789 in what is now the Eastern Cape, South Africa, and was a member of the Khoikhoi people, an indigenous pastoralist group of southern Africa. This matters because she is frequently referenced in popular culture without students understanding exactly who she was or where she came from. Students who answer A, C, or D are placing her in the wrong region or with the wrong ethnic group entirely, which obscures the specific southern African origin central to her story.

2. At what age did Sarah Baartman die, and in what city?

A) 26, in Paris.

Students should be able to name both her age at death and the location. Baartman died in Paris on December 29, 1815, at approximately age 26 — just five years after she first left South Africa. The cause of death is undetermined, though historians point to possible smallpox, pneumonia, or syphilis, compounded by years of exploitation and poverty. Students who answer B, C, or D are misplacing either her age or the city, both of which matter to understanding how short and compressed her period of public exploitation actually was.

3. What stage name was Sarah Baartman exhibited under in Europe?

B) The Hottentot Venus.

Students should recognize this name and understand why it is significant. "Hottentot" was a colonial-era term for Khoikhoi people, now considered an offensive slur, and "Venus" referenced the Roman goddess of beauty — a name that simultaneously mocked and sexualized her body for public consumption. Students who answer A, C, or D are not identifying the actual historical exhibition name, which is essential vocabulary for understanding how she was marketed and viewed by 19th-century European audiences.

4. What modern cosmetic surgery procedure is connected to the body type Baartman was exhibited for?

B) Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL).

Students should be able to draw the direct line between Baartman's exhibited body type — steatopygia, a pronounced buttocks-and-thigh shape — and the modern surgical procedure built around recreating that same shape. The BBL is one of the fastest-growing cosmetic procedures in the world, with the global buttock augmentation market valued in the billions of dollars. Students who answer A, C, or D are selecting unrelated cosmetic procedures that have no connection to the specific body type discussed in this lesson.

5. In which countries is Melanotan II illegal to sell for human use, according to this lesson?

B) The United States, United Kingdom, and Australia.

Students should be able to name all three countries cited in the lesson. Regulatory agencies in the United States (FDA), the United Kingdom (MHRA), and Australia (TGA) have all explicitly deemed Melanotan II illegal to sell for human use, and have issued public warnings against it. Students who answer A, C, or D are understating the scope of this prohibition — it is not limited to a single country or region, and it is not legal anywhere covered by this lesson.

6. What serious health risk has been linked to Melanotan II use in published medical case reports?

B) Melanoma (skin cancer).

Students should connect Melanotan II directly to its most serious documented risk. Published medical case reports have documented melanoma — including melanoma in situ and invasive melanoma — developing in individuals using Melanotan II, often arising from existing moles within weeks to months of use. Students who answer A, C, or D are selecting minor or unrelated conditions that understate the seriousness of the documented medical risk.

7. According to the lesson, roughly how long did dark skin function as a marker tied to danger and subordination for Black people in the United States?

C) About 400 years.

Students should be able to place this timeframe in historical context, spanning from the start of the transatlantic slave trade through the long era of Jim Crow segregation and racial terror lynching. The Equal Justice Initiative has documented more than 4,400 racial terror lynchings of Black people in the United States between 1877 and 1950 alone — and that figure represents only one documented portion of a much longer history of racial violence. Students who answer A, B, or D are significantly understating or overstating the timeframe, which matters for understanding the scale and duration of this history.

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PART B — SHORT ANSWER KEY POINTS

Question 8. Explain in your own words why Sarah Baartman's exhibition is considered an example of scientific racism. Use at least two specific details from the lesson.

A strong answer should include:

• At least two specific details: Baartman was publicly exhibited specifically for her steatopygia, a body type that European audiences viewed as an exotic curiosity rather than ordinary human variation; after her death, the naturalist Georges Cuvier dissected her body, made a plaster cast of it, and preserved her brain and genitals in jars to support racist theories ranking human beings by perceived evolutionary hierarchy
• What this tells us about scientific racism: Baartman's body was treated not as belonging to a human being with dignity, but as a specimen to be studied, measured, and used as supposed evidence for theories that placed African people at the bottom of a false racial hierarchy
• What it challenges: the idea that 19th-century scientific inquiry was neutral or objective — the lesson shows that Baartman's treatment, both in life and after death, was shaped entirely by a predetermined racist conclusion, not genuine scientific curiosity
• Strong answers will connect: the fact that her remains were displayed in a Paris museum for well over a century, and that she was not laid to rest in South Africa until 2002, to the broader pattern of how scientific racism extended its reach even beyond a person's death

Question 9. The lesson states that the body type Baartman was exploited for is now the basis of a billion-dollar surgery industry. Using details from the lesson, explain why this contrast matters.

A strong answer should include:

• At least two specific details: Baartman was mocked, caged, and publicly displayed specifically because her body shape was viewed as grotesque by European audiences; today, the global buttock augmentation industry is valued well into the billions of dollars, with the Brazilian Butt Lift among the fastest-growing cosmetic procedures in the world
• Why the contrast matters: a trait that was treated as a justification for dehumanizing a Black woman is now surgically constructed and celebrated when reproduced on other bodies, often without any acknowledgment of where that aesthetic standard originated
• What this reveals: the value placed on a physical trait can shift entirely based on who possesses it and who profits from it — the same shape was once used to justify exploitation and is now a multi-billion-dollar commercial product
• Strong answers will note: the cosmetic surgery industry rarely traces its own aesthetic standards back to Baartman or to Black women more broadly, which students can identify as a pattern of erasure similar to other examples in the "They Stole It" series

Question 10. Using at least two specific details from the lesson — one about the historical treatment of dark skin and one about Melanotan II — explain why some people today are willing to risk their health to darken their skin.

A strong answer should include:

• At least one detail about historical treatment of dark skin: for roughly four centuries, from the transatlantic slave trade through Jim Crow-era racial terror lynching, dark skin functioned as a marker that could determine whether a Black person in the United States lived in bondage, faced legal discrimination, or was targeted with deadly violence — the Equal Justice Initiative has documented more than 4,400 racial terror lynchings between 1877 and 1950 alone
• At least one detail about Melanotan II: it is a synthetic, unapproved drug, illegal to sell for human use in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia, that some people inject or inhale specifically to darken their skin, despite published medical case reports linking it to melanoma
• Why this contrast matters: a physical trait that was once violently policed and used to justify centuries of subordination is now actively sought after by people willing to risk a documented cancer link to acquire it
• Strong answers will connect: this pattern to the indoor tanning industry more broadly, which generates close to $5 billion a year in the United States, showing that the desire to acquire darker skin is not a fringe phenomenon but a significant commercial market

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