George And Willie Muse, The Black Brothers Who Were Kidnapped By The Circus And Billed As ‘Martians’
George And Willie Muse, The Black Brothers Who Were Kidnapped By The Circus And Billed As ‘Martians’
When they were just ages six and nine, brothers George and Willie Muse were kidnapped from the tobacco fields of Roanoke, Virginia and forced into the circus. Born Black and albino in the 1890s, the Muse brothers were forced to grow out their hair and perform in sideshows as "The Men From Mars" — while their white managers made untold sums off of their humiliation.
They only escaped this life one day in 1927 when their mother was in one of the circus tent crowds, recognized the sons who were taken from her, and took them back.
Born with a rare form of albinism in the Jim Crow South, George and Willie Muse were spotted by a cruel showman and forced into a life of exploitation.
In America’s era of sideshow “freaks” in the early 20th century, many people were bought, sold, and exploited like prizes for indifferent circus promotors. And perhaps no performer’s tale is as harrowing as that of George and Willie Muse.
In the early 1900s, the two Black brothers were reportedly abducted from their family’s tobacco farm in Virginia. Desired for show business because they were both born with albinism, the Muse brothers traveled against their will with a promoter named James Shelton, who billed them as “Eko and Iko, the Ambassadors from Mars.”
All the while, however, their mother battled racist institutions and indifference to free them. Through deception, cruelty, and many court battles, the Muse family succeeded in reuniting with one another. This is their story.
How George And Willie Muse Were Abducted By The Circus
George and Willie Muse were the eldest of five children born to Harriett Muse in the small community of Truevine on the edge of Roanoke, Virginia. Against almost impossible odds, both boys were born with albinism, leaving their skin exceptionally vulnerable to the harsh Virginia sun.
Both also had a condition known as nystagmus, which often accompanies albinism, and weakens vision. The boys had begun squinting in the light from such a young age that by the time they were six and nine years old, they had permanent furrows in their foreheads.
Like most of their neighbors, the Muses eked out a bare living from sharecropping tobacco. The boys were expected to help out by patrolling the rows of tobacco plants for pests, killing them before they could damage the precious crop.
Although Harriett Muse doted on her boys as best she could, it was a hard life of manual labor and racial violence. At the time, lynch mobs frequently targeted Black men, and the neighborhood was always on the edge of another attack. As Black children with albinism, the Muse brothers were at a heightened risk of scorn and abuse.
It’s not known for certain how George and Willie came to the attention of circus promoter James Herman “Candy” Shelton. It’s possible that a desperate relative or neighbor sold him the information, or that Harriett Muse allowed them to go with him temporarily, only for them to be kept in captivity.
According to Truevine author Beth Macy, the Muse brothers might have agreed to do a couple performances with Shelton when his circus came through Truevine in 1914, but then the promoter abducted them when his show left town.
The popular story which sprang up in Truevine was that the brothers were out in the fields one day in 1899 when Shelton lured them with candy and kidnapped them. When night fell and her sons were nowhere to be found, Harriett Muse knew something terrible had happened.
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