George Cuvier is a French naturalist whose studies are deeply foundational to scientific racism and the surveillance of Black bodies. He will go on to publish writings that delineate perceived differences between racial groups, determining that Black, Indigenous, Asian, and Latinx/e people have "inferior" physical and mental traits.

Cuvier becomes most widely known for his studies of Saartjie Baartman (known as the "Hottentot Venus"), an African woman from the Eastern Cape of South Africa. He dissects her genitalia and writes articles arguing that the form of her labia is proof of the "primitive sexual appetite of African women," and compares her genitalia to monkeys'. Curvier preserves her brain, genitalia, and skeleton, which will be be put on display in the Musee de L'Homme from 1937 (when it is founded) until 2002, after President Nelson Mandela requests that her remains be repatriated to her homeland. Her bones will be buried there on August 9th, 2002.