P. T. Barnum's "Greatest Exploitation on Earth"

F*** Your Racist History

Phineas Taylor (P. T.) Barnum is remembered by many as America's "Greatest Showman." An entertainer with enduring ingenuity who could literally make something out of nothing. A so-called friend to the friendless, someone who employed people with physical disabilities in his circus during a time in history when they might not otherwise have been given any other opportunity. A businessman who was endeared and admired for his use of predatory Capitalism; there wasn't a lie he wouldn't tell, a person he wouldn't exploit, or a tale he wouldn't spin to make a buck, and people loved him for all of it. He proved that people didn't mind getting conned as long as they got their money's worth, and that con is still playing out in our memory of Barnum today. In this episode of F*** Your Racist History, we break down the real (and soiled) legacy of P. T. Barnum: his profiteering and exploitation of people with disabilities and enslaved people.