On a new episode of ID the Future, CSC Associate Director John West exposes the dark side of P.T. Barnum. Download the podcast or listen to it here.

Maybe you’ve watched The Greatest Showman — but have you heard of Barnum’s “What Is It?” exhibit? Listen for more about racist displays of human “freaks” and how the science of the day endorsed Social Darwinism. For more, watch the newly released documentary Human Zoos, and visit the Human Zoos website.

Photo: P.T. Barnum, via Harvard Library/Wikimedia Commons.