Khoikhoi and Sarah Bartman

One of the highlights of the early days of our visit was trip out in the country to visit the leadership of the local Khoikhoi people. The Khoikhoi and the San were the first peoples in South Africa. The Xhosa and Zulu slowly migrated into southern Africa from points further north in an important historic movement known as the Bantu Migration. The Khoi chief was eager to emphasize to us that they were the indigenous inhabitants of the region before the other darker- skinned Africans, the "blacks," as they said. The importance of the site where were met them is that in the 19th century a Khoi woman, who was called Sarah Bartman, Sarah was taken to Europe and essentially put on display because of the physical attributes of Khoi women, such as large buttocks. Her body was returned to South Africa in the 1990s from Europe and has been a rallying point for the few Khoi people who remain. The Khoi were friendly to us and eager to talk about their history. They were incidentally Christian and we said a prayer over Sarah's grave. At the top, my students and a group of students from the U. of Mississippi pose at the graveside. Then there is me with Khoi court and finally a view of the nearby scenery.