Circassion women were part of the P.T. Barnum circus. Of course, they were not really from Circassia in the North Caucasus. Barnum hyped them as such because of the renown of the beauty of women from that region and the fact that many were dispersed and became slaves because of the genocide in that area. Barnum styled their hair in a pseudo-afro to create a visual equation between these women and Black Americans and slavery. Barnum had a traveling group from his circus visit areas including Iowa.