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that were in the bronx zoo? I was reading the article Sunday. did anyone see it?
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Re: did anyone see the newspaper article with the black people
Enlarge Wildlife Conservation SocietyIn 1906, the Bronx Zoo put Ota Benga, a Congolese pygmy, on display in a cage in its Monkey House. Protests by a group of African-American ministers soon put an end to the exhibit.
Wildlife Conservation SocietyIn 1906, the Bronx Zoo put Ota Benga, a Congolese pygmy, on display in a cage in its Monkey House. Protests by a group of African-American ministers soon put an end to the exhibit.
Enlarge Jessie Tarbox Beals/St. Louis Public LibraryOta Benga was among a group of pygmies brought to the United States to be displayed at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904.
Jessie Tarbox Beals/St. Louis Public LibraryOta Benga was among a group of pygmies brought to the United States to be displayed at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904.
text sizeAAASeptember 8, 2006
On Sept. 8, a hundred years ago, the Bronx Zoo in New York unveiled a new exhibit that would attract legions of visitors -- and spark a furor.
Inside a cage, in the zoo's Monkey House, was a man named Ota Benga. He was 22 years old, a member of the Batwa people, pygmies who lived in what was then the Belgian Congo.
Ota Benga first came to the United States in 1904. The St. Louis World's Fair had hired Samuel Phillips Verner, an American explorer and missionary, to bring African pygmies to the exposition.
After the World's Fair, Verner, as promised, took the Africans back to their country. But Ota Benga found that he didn't fit in at "home" anymore -- all the members of his particular tribe had been annihilated during his time away -- and he asked Verner to take him back to the United States.
That's when Ota Benga ended up at the Bronx Zoo. It's estimated that 40,000 visitors a day came to see him.
At the same time, a group of African-American ministers mounted a vigorous protest.
From an article in The New York Times on Sept. 10, 1906:
"The person responsible for this exhibition degrades himself as much as he does the African," said Rev. Dr. R. MacArthur of Calvary Baptist Church. "Instead of making a beast of this little fellow, he should be put in school for the development of such powers as God gave to him. It is too bad that there is not some society like the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. We send our missionaries to Africa to Christianize the people, and then we bring one here to brutalize him."
The Bronx Zoo soon ended the exhibit, and the ministers' group moved Ota Benga to the Howard Colored Orphan Asylum in Brooklyn. He stayed there for a short time before being relocated to Lynchburg, Va., where various families housed him and tried to help him live a normal life.
Ota Benga lived in Lynchburg until March 1916, when he borrowed a gun from one of his host families, went to the woods on the edge of the town, and shot himself.
Carrie Allen McCray, now 92, knew Ota Benga when she was a little girl in Lynchburg; for a time, he lived with her family. Phillips Verner Bradford is the grandson of the explorer who brought Ota Benga to America. They recount the story of the African pygmy's life -- and death -- in America.
Joe Richman of Radio Diaries produced this story. The editors were Ben Shapiro and Deborah George. -
Re: did anyone see the newspaper article with the black people
My question is why now? Why write about this now? It happened so long ago why bring it up now? What was the purpose?Comment
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Re: did anyone see the newspaper article with the black people
Did you know that they did the same with the Inuits they brought from the North Pole too??
Only they placed them in the Brooklyn Museum. It only show the level of primitive behavior that was accepted as norms in the society then. They may be beyond the exposition today, but the underlying beliefs still lingers. <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: champion gal262</div><div class="ubbcode-body">My question is why now? Why write about this now? It happened so long ago why bring it up now? What was the purpose? </div></div>Comment
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Re: did anyone see the newspaper article with the black peop
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: championgal262</div><div class="ubbcode-body">My question is why now? Why write about this now? It happened so long ago why bring it up now? What was the purpose? </div></div>
to give you an insight into the society we live in & their mentalities less than a hundred years ago...
history is importantComment
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Re: did anyone see the newspaper article with the black people
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: championgal262</div><div class="ubbcode-body">My question is why now? Why write about this now? It happened so long ago why bring it up now? What was the purpose? </div></div>
Simply because it's a historical fact that should be known. I am sure if many of those other atrocities of the past are brought to light, we would all be astounded...
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"At a time of universal deceit," wrote George Orwell, "telling the truth is a revolutionary act."Comment
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