The American Dream is a concept that many are familiar with; the belief that equal opportunities can be achieved through hard work and determination. The reality though, is that Americans are innocent and naive. P.T. Barnum exploited the gullibility of Americans and the outcome was something magical. On December 20, 2017, The Greatest Showman will be showing on the big screen to commemorate P.T. Barnum.

P.T. Barnum was born July 5^th, 1810, and has earned the titled “Greatest Showman.” At 25 years old, Barnum “paid $1,000 for an elderly slave named Joice Heth,” according to Biography.com Editors. Joice Heth claimed she was 161 years old and had been a former nurse for George Washington. He displayed her to the public and made about fifteen hundred dollars per week.

In 1841, Barnum turned Scudder’s American Museum into Barnum’s American Museum. The museum would now hold “a carnival of live freaks, dramatic theatricals, beauty contests, and other sensational attractions” (Irving Wallace). The first successful exhibit and one of the most popular was the Feegee Mermaid. An authentic mermaid- or an authentic hoax. The Feegee Mermaid has been depicted by hoaxes.org as a “withered body of a monkey and the dried tail of a fish.” Other interesting exhibits included human oddities. These oddities were a vast array of wonder including two Siamese twins conjoined at their sides, a 25-inch tall man that Barnum named “General Tom Thumb,” and women with beards. In 1865, a fire burned down the Barnum’s American Museum.

After Barnum’s museum burned down, he decided to take it on the road. The traveling show was named “The Greatest Show on Earth” by Barnum, who took full credit for the venture despite working with Dan Castello and William C. Coup.  In 1881, Barnum and James Bailey. Together they showed “Jumbo” a giant elephant that was very popular. They renamed the show the Barnum and Bailey Greatest Show on Earth. Barnum died on April 7^th, 1891. Barnum is remembered as an amazing businessman.