The wonders of the world

World's Fairs existed (and still exist) to exhibit our best products, to demonstrate the inventions that could change the future, and to bring disparate people together to learn about one another. At a fair today, that might mean that up-and-coming nations display their wares and tell the visitors how great it would be for them to move some of their corporations there, for mutual benefit. At fairs in the past, that might have meant that rounding up a group of natives from some undeveloped country and moving them lock, stock and yurt onto the fairgrounds so that the civilized world could gawk at them.

Ota Benga was one of these people. He and other members of his pygmy tribe were exhibited at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904 (the one of "Meet Me in St. Louis" fame). After that, he ended up at the Bronx Zoo—on display:

[Zoo director William Temple] Hornaday had his zookeepers urge Benga to play with the orangutan in its enclosure. Crowds gathered to watch. Next the zookeepers convinced Benga to use his bow and arrow to shoot targets, along with the occasional squirrel or rat. They also scattered some stray bones around the enclosure to foster the idea of Benga being a savage. Finally, they cajoled Benga into rushing the bars of the orangutan’s cage, and baring his sharp teeth at the patrons. Kids were terrified. Some adults were too, though more of them were just plain curious about Benga. “Is that a man?” one visitor asked.

This is a story of the times more than the individuals involved, but it reminds us that the times were anything but sensitive to otherness or the ubiquity of humanity: In 1906, the Bronx Zoo Put a Black Man on Display in the Monkey House.