This illustration parodies Barnum's reputation as a showman who resorted to elaborate fakes, or "humbugs" to promote his attractions. A succession of widely publicized exhibitions made Barnum's name synonymous with "humbug" in the antebellum period. Beginning with his mid-1830s exhibition of Joice Heth (the purported 161-year old slave nursemaid of George Washington), Barnum regularly fooled the public with human, animal, and mechanical exhibits that became famous precisely because they were (or might have been) fakes. This reputation for trickery attended all of Barnum's endeavors.