Born into slavery, joined at the lower spine, stolen from her parents in infancy, exhibited as a curiosity in North America and Europe, stripped naked and examined in every new town, freed from bondage on numerous occasions yet returned to her former circumstances nonetheless, Millie-Christine McKoy lived one of the most complex and difficult childhoods imaginable.

Even more remarkable is the way she turned out. Reunited with her family and brought under caring management, Millie-Christine became one of the most renowned performers of her day. While most African-Americans were kept ignorant in slavery and destitute after the Civil War, she grew fluent in five languages and was an accomplished pianist, singer, and yes, dancer who toured the world and entertained kings and queens.

Loved by most yet ridiculed as a monster by some, Millie-Christine was one of the most amazing people you've never heard of. Her story, told here in full for the first time, has the flavor of the side-show world in which she traveled--a world of giants, midgets, human skeletons, and bearded ladies, freaks with very human souls.