Joice Heth

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Joice Heth was an African-American woman featured in P.T. Barnum with the false claim that she was George Washington’s 161-year-old nursing mummy. Her exposure under these claims, and her public autopsy, attained considerable notoriety. To satisfy public interest, Barnum instituted a public autopsy. Barnum hired a surgeon (Dr. David L. Rogers), who performed the autopsy on February 25, 1836, in front of fifteen hundred spectators at the City Saloon in New York, Barnum charging US$0.50.