Unit 4: "Freak Shows"

Grades

• 6-8
• 9-10
• 11-12

Subjects

• History
• Language
• Social Studies
• Sociology

Overview of Lesson Plan

• Lavinia Warren was born October 31, 1841, on the old Warren farm in the town of Middleboro, Plymouth County, Massachusetts.  She stopped growing at age 10. She was 32 inches tall and weighed 29 pounds. Both of her parents were tall, and she had two sisters and four brothers whose heights were normal, but her younger sister Minnie was also a little person, even smaller than she.

  Lavinia first married Tom Thumb and then two years after his death in 1883, she married Count Primo Magri. Her autobiography, focused primarily on her life with General Tom Thumb, was published in 1906.

  This lesson is focused on Lavinia's story and, in particular, how she chooses to tell it.

Standards

• 1. Identify, describe, and express appreciation for the influence of various historical and contemporary cultures on an individual's daily life.
  2. Compare and evaluate the impact of stereotyping, conformity, acts of altruism, and other behaviors on individuals and groups.
  3. Apply concepts such as role, status, and social class in describing the connections and interactions of individuals, groups, and institutions in society.
  

Objectives

• 1. To use multiple sources and texts to learn how historical figures can be seen differently by different individuals and groups.
  2. To explore how views of human difference have changed over time.
  3. To examine an autobiographical account of a woman in history.
  4. To understand how a person can be promoted to be celebrity or public figure?

Questions to Consider

• 1. How does Lavinia Warren's view of herself compare with other views of her?
• 2. Why was Lavinia Warren a celebrity?
• 3. Would Lavinia Warren be a celebrity today?
• 4. How was Lavinia Warren "advertised"?

Resources and Materials

• NOTE: Some of these links may lead to external web sites.
  1. Visual stills: "General Tom Thumb and Lady," "Wedding Scene," "The Reception, "Tom Thumb and Wife on Balcony."
  2. Robert Bogdan, "Love in Miniature: Mr. And Mrs. Tom Thumb."
  3 "Mrs. Tom Thumb's Autobiography."
  4. "Sketch of the Life...Charles S. Stratton" (paragraphs 7-18, 22-25).

Activities and Procedures

• 1. As homework, assign students to read "Love in Miniature: Mr. and Mrs. Tom Thumb," "Sketch of the Life...Charles S. Stratton," and "Mrs. Tom Thumb's Autobiography." In class, show students the visual skills and review with students the history of Tom Thumb and Lavinia Warren.
• 2. As a whole class, in small groups, or individually, have students answer the following questions about "Mrs. Tom Thumb's Autobiography": How does Lavinia write about her life? What does Lavinia deem noteworthy? What themes does she highlight in her story? How does Lavinia write about her life in relation to her husband's?  Post students' answers on the blackboard, on newsprint, or on a computer.
• 3. Ask students to compare "Sketch of the Life…Charles S. Stratton" and "Mrs. Tom Thumb's Autobiography."  Have students discuss the following questions in small groups: How does the author of "Sketch of the Life" (most likely, P.T. Barnum) describe Lavinia?  How do these descriptions compare with the ways in which Lavinia writes about herself?  Bring the class back together and hold a class discussion on each group's answers to these questions.  
• 4. Have students review the visual stills shown in the lecture. Remind the students that these photographs were sold for commercial purposes. Lead a class discussion on the question "What were the promoters or photographers trying to communicate through these pictures?"
• 5. Explain to students that they are going to create their own autobiographical works. Tell students they may write their story or tell it with a poem, photographs, drawings, or a piece of art (e.g., sculpture). When students are finished with their autobiographies, have them share them with a partner and ask the pair to discuss how their stories may differ from the stories others may tell about them.
• 6. Break students into pairs. One student in each pair role plays an interviewer and one role plays Lavinia.  Before the interviews, students study the historical documents to generate a list of interview questions (the interviewer) or to be prepared to answer the questions (Lavinia).
• 7. As homework, ask students to identify one prominent American mentioned in "Mrs. Tom Thumb's Autobiography" and conduct independent research, using texts, computer searches, or other sources, into who that person was.  Students should write a brief essay describing the person and explaining why it was significant that the person in mentioned in the autobiography.

Eras

• 1810-1865

Disability

• Physical Disabilities

Topics

• Freak Shows
• Media
• Museum

Copyright

• ©Syracuse University, 2002-2004.  All rights reserved.

Author(s)

• Paula Kluth, Ph.D. and Steven J. Taylor, Ph.D.

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