Unpacking Contentious Corporate Strategies
Despite the shadow of apprehension that accompanied their unique condition, Chang and Eng Bunker, the famed Siamese twins, led lives marked by considerable success and affluence. By the late 1840s, the duo had parlayed their entrepreneurial acumen into a substantial fortune. Their estates boasted two opulent residences, replete with the most exquisite china, luxurious fabrics, and gleaming silver. The Bunker brothers’ spouses were adorned in the most sumptuous silk gowns, and their tables were set with the finest European delicacies and wines.
However, beneath this veneer of prosperity and genteel living lurked a troubling reality.
The wealth that Chang and Eng amassed was, in significant part, derived from the sale of enslaved individuals. More disquieting was the youth of those they sold: by 1850, more than half of the 18 people they enslaved were children under the age of seven. The brothers did not only profit from the labor extracted on their plantation but also from tearing young children away from their parents and selling them for financial gain. Despite the moral repugnance of their actions, Chang and Eng maintained a stance of innocence regarding their involvement in such inhumane practices..