The conjoined twins Chang and Eng were born in Thailand in 1811, were sold by their mother to a Western ship captain, toured the world, won freedom and fortune, and settled in the American South. There they married sisters, grew tobacco, and eventually raised 21 children and owned some 28 slaves. Through lyrical reenactments and interviews with scholars, writers and the twins' numerous descendants, "The Siamese Connection" shows how the famous and mysterious lives of the original Siamese twins continue to reverberate in the culture and imagination, exciting issues of race, body image, sexual taboo, and otherness.
