Up for sale is this rare antique cdv circus/sideshow photo of the conjoined twins Millie and Christine. The twins were born into slavery in Whiteville, North Carolina in 1851. The twins weren’t emancipated until after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. Shortly after that, they joined P. Barnum’s circus where they performed as The Two Headed Nightingale. The cdv is in overall good condition with a little fading to the photo and some minor signs of wear and age. It measures approximately 4 1/8 inches by 2 3/8 inches and most likely dates to sometime around the 1870’s or late 1860’s. Please look at the scans to further note the condition. African-American conjoined twins and performers (18511912). Millie and Christine McKoy (July 11, 1851 October 8, 1912) were African-American conjoined twins who went by the stage names “The Carolina Twins”, “The Two-Headed Nightingale” and “The Eighth Wonder of the World”. The twins traveled throughout the world performing song and dance for entertainment, overcoming years of slavery, forced medical observations, and forced participation in fairs and freak shows. Millie and Christine (the “Carolina Twins”) were born in Whiteville, North Carolina on July 11, 1851, to Jacob and Monemia McKoy who were slaves of blacksmith, Jabez McKay. The McKay farm was near the town of Whiteville. Prior to the sisters’ birth, their mother had borne seven other children, five boys and two girls, all of ordinary size and form. The twins were conjoined at the lower spine and stood at an approximately 90-degree angle to each other. Pervis and McKay reached an agreement where Pervis exhibited the girls for pay and then paid a percentage to McKay. Brower first exhibited the twins at North Carolina’s first state fair, held in 1853. They were called “freaks of nature”. The North Carolina State Fair was a success for Brower and the Carolina Twins; however, Brower’s fortune changed over the next months. Brower accepted, sent the twins on to the Texan, and then waited several days for the deeds before realizing that he had been swindled. Since Brower was left destitute, Smith was given the promissory note and was now the owner of the Carolina Twins. Millie and Christine were handled by several managers before being reclaimed by Smith in Britain in 1857. On January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation ended their slave status and they were no longer anyone’s property. Before their emancipation, the girls had been showcased in fairs and freak shows in several U. Cities and even Montreal, Canada. Smith traveled to Britain to collect the girls and brought with him their mother, Monemia, from whom they had been separated. 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. For the rest of the century, the twins enjoyed a successful career as “The Two-Headed Nightingale”, and appeared with the Barnum circus. Joanne Fish Martell, former court reporter, discovered a memoir written by the girls at the age of 17 and with that and other sources, created her book Millie-Christine: Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, which was 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 down quite 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. 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. An undated and unsigned biography of the sisters was written around 1905. It includes events from their childhood, their kidnapping and movement to England, and finally their return to the United States and a bit of their life afterwards. The writing is only 22 pages long and contains letters from various physicians attesting to the genuine nature of the twins’ conjoined physiology. At the end of the work, the girls answer the question as to whether they are one person or two, saying “Although we speak of ourselves in the plural we feel as but one person; in fact as such we have ever been regarded, although we bear the names Millie and Christina” (McKoy, 20). The item “Antique MILLIE & CHRISTINE Conjoined Twins SIDESHOW CDV Photo P T Barnum Circus” is in sale since Monday, June 14, 2021. This item is in the category “Collectibles\Photographic Images\Vintage & Antique (Pre-1940)\CDVs”. The seller is “nevermore_antiques_and_books” and is located in Wallingford, Connecticut. This item can be shipped to United States.
- Region of Origin: US
- Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
- Size Type/Largest Dimension: Small (Up to 7″)
- Listed By: Dealer or Reseller
- Date of Creation: 1870-1879
- Photography Studio: New York: Ollivier
- Color: Sepia
- Photo Type: CDV
- Subject: Celebrities & Musicians
- Time Period Manufactured: Vintage & Antique (Pre-1940)
- Original/Reprint: Original Print
