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On this day, July 11th, in African American Herstory

In 1851, Millie and Christine McKoy were born. They were Black pygopagus conjoined twins, singers, and actresses.

Millie and Christine (the "Carolina Twins") were born in Whiteville, North Carolina, to Jacob and Monemia McKoy, who Jabez McKay enslaved. Before the sisters' birth, their mother had given birth to seven other children, five boys and two girls, all of regular size and form. The twins were conjoined at the lower spine and stood at an approximately 90-degree angle to each other.

The twins were sold to South Carolinian John C. Pervis at ten months of age. Pervis and McKay reached an agreement where Pervis exhibited the girls for pay and then paid a percentage to McKay. Fourteen months after the original sale, they were sold to a showman, Brower, who had the backing of a wealthy merchant named Joseph Pearson Smith. Brower exhibited the twins at North Carolina's first state fair in 1853. They were called "freaks of nature."

However, the North Carolina State Fair was a success for Brower and the Carolina Twins. Brower was cheated by a Texas adventurer, who offered land worth an estimated $45,000 as a purchase price for the twins. Brower accepted, sent the twins to the Texan, and waited several days for the deeds before realizing he had been tricked. Brower returned to North Carolina to relate the loss to Joseph Pearson Smith. Since Brower was left destitute, Smith was given the promissory note and was now the owner of the Carolina Twins. Several managers handled Millie and Christine before being reclaimed by Smith in Britain in 1857.

Before their emancipation, the girls had been shown in fairs and freak shows in several U.S. cities and Canada. Smith traveled to Britain to collect the girls from their mother, Monemia. He and his wife provided the twins with an education and taught them to speak five languages, dance, play music, and sing. During their time in Britain, they met Queen Victoria. The Emancipation Proclamation ended their slave status, and they were no longer anyone's property. The twins enjoyed a successful career as "The Two-Headed Nightingale" for the rest of the century and appeared with the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey circus.

In 1869, a biography on the twins, titled History and Medical Description of the Two-Headed Girl, was sold during public appearances. Joanne Fish Martell, the former court reporter, discovered a memoir by the girls at 17 and used that and other sources to create her book Millie-Christine: Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, published in 2000. The twins' motto was "As God decreed, we agreed," and they strove to turn impediments into assets. As toddlers, they were clumsy and fell frequently. They eventually developed a sideways walk that turned into a crowd-pleasing dance style. They were able to master keyboard duets with one soprano and one alto voice and learned to harmonize. They went by the stage names "The Carolina Twins," "The Two-Headed Nightingale," and "The Eighth Wonder of the World ."

The twins traveled worldwide, performing songs and dances for entertainment, overcoming years of slavery, forced medical observations, and forced participation in fairs and freak shows. When they were in their 30s, the twins moved back to the farm where they were born, which their father had bought from Jabez McKay and left to them. On October 8, 1912, Millie and Christine died at age 61 of tuberculosis; Christine died 12 hours after her sister. They were buried in unmarked graves, but in 1969 they were moved to a cemetery in Whiteville. Engraved on their tombstone were these words: "A soul with two thoughts. Two hearts that beat as one." (African American Registry, 2023)

MME. ABOMAH: "THE AFRICAN GIANTESS" WHO WAS ONCE THE TALLEST WOMAN IN THE WORLD

Ella Williams (Mme Abomah) was once the world`s tallest lady in the late 1800`s and early 1900`s. She was reputed to be 7ft 6inch giantess. Though she was born in South Carolina in USA, her show manager claimed she was born In Dahomey (now Republic of Benin).

Born in South Carolina in Oct. of 1865, Ella Grigsby narrowly missed being born a slave as the 13th Amendment to the U.S Constitution was ratified only 10 months previous. Ella came to work for Elihu and Harriet Williams when as a teenager. Because Grigsby was the family name of her parent's slave holders, Ella took the Williams surname as her own.

Abomah claimed none of her other siblings were unusually large and she had been contacted by various vaudeville and circus promoters to sign a contract and tour as a giantess, but always refused. However, while working as a cook in her native South Carolina, she agreed to be hired by Frank C. Bostock for a tour of the British Isles in 1896.

The "tour" that Frank Bostock signed Ella up for was a tour of the British Isles. Bostock understood that Ella's act would not go over well in her native country. Racism in Europe was not as pronounced as in the States so Miss Williams was ultimately to find greater success on foreign soil.

Bostock at the time mixed a little fact with fiction in promoting his act. He gave Williams the stage name Abomah, a name which came from Abomey, the capital of the Kingdom of Dahomey (now Benin). He further promoted Abomah as being a member of one of the legendary Dahomey Amazons, the all-female fighting force that existed around the time.

“One of King Dahomey’s Amazons who has been brought over to England for show purposes is a giantess indeed. Her height is eight feet, and she is both broad and muscular,” he used to say, according to the American press.

Abomah’s manager knew that in Europe, his strong and beautiful African Giantess would definitely be given massive audience. Over the course of her 30 year career Abomah was to tour not only Britain but most of continental Europe, Australia and New Zealand, South America, and Cuba.

Abomah also had very expensive and extensive clothing, making the Amazon Giantess always appear elegant and royal.

When Britain declared war on Germany in August 1914, Abomah cancelled her tours and came back to the US in March 1915. She worked for Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey and at Coney Island. Abomah was still doing shows in the 1920’s before she left the scene.

https://www.luvnaturetee.com/messwithold

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