From: pvb@teal.csn.org (Phillips Bradford)
Subject: Re: Ota Benga - The Pygmy in the Zoo [concerning the book]
Organization: Colorado SuperNet, Inc.
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 19:51:33 GMT

In article <1992Sep06.155159.17311@microsoft.com> tolas@microsoft.com (Tola Soyode) writes:
>References: <Bu4Bry.6Lt@csn.org> 
>Followup-To: 
>Distribution: local
>Organization: 
>
>In article <Bu4Bry.6Lt@csn.org> pvb@teal.csn.org wrote:
>> 
>> Notice of reviews on "Ota Benga -the pygmy in the zoo". This book is reviewed
>> in the New York Times Book Review, Sept.6, page 3. Also in Esquire, Sept. issue
>> page 88. Book is a true story concerning an African forest person who was put
>>
>I am remember visiting the Berlinerzoo (the Berlin Zoo - can't remember
>if there was an actual zoo there at the time) and a German friend of
>mine told me that yonks ago, Africans were often exhibited there as part of the
>fauna.
>
>Does anybody have any references to that?

When we were searching through our sources to write "Ota Benga - the pygmy in
the zoo." we came across a newspaper article which contained an interview with
William Hornaday, the director of the Bronx Zoo in 1906. He was being asked by
the news reporter if he was the first to exhibit a human being in a zoo. His
reply was that it was not uncommon in Europe for there to be exhibits of
primitive ethnic scenes featuring native peoples. In addition to Africans,
there were American Indians, asians, polynesians, etc. Ethnic exhibits were
also common at world's fairs, such as the Crystal Palace in London, the
Columbian in Chicago, and especially the Louisiana Purchase Exhibition in St.
Louis in 1904, where Ota Benga appeared with a troup of other Africans in such
a native display. This is described in some detail in the book. The animal show
impressario, Carl Hagenbeck, used to take wild animals on road show tours with
extended visits at Coney Island and carnivals. He sometimes included ethnic
exhibits of primitive peoples.

We learned that shortly after Columbus discovered America, there were exhibits
of American Indians in Europe. The important difference which makes Ota Benga's
story unique was revealed in the reporter's next question, which was something
to the effect of: "..and were humans ever exhibited in a monkey's cage.." to
which Hornaday answered that Ota Benga was the first such exhibit that he knew
to have ever existed anywhere in the world.

Hornaday had designed the exhibit of Ota Benga to point out the resemblances
between men and monkeys. He wanted to illustrate the Darwin theory of evolution
and provoke a discussion of whether or not there was a gradation of humans on
a scale of civilizability. There was debate about whether "pygmies" were 
living examples of a missing link between great apes and civilized men. Even
the animal sensationalist, Carl Hagenbeck, never tried to associate his ethnic
exhibits with those of animals. The European displays were more akin to the
atmosphere of a circus, but Hornaday's was a Zoo.

Verner was quoted, at the time, as saying that "no missing link would be found
alive anywhere in Africa" despite the fact that he went looking for just that
on his earlier missions. In the book on Ota Benga, you will find references
in letters from William McGee that Verner was hired to bring back to St. Louis
some of the "Tueki people" which were thought to be downy haired, 3 ft tall,
arboreal, tailed beings that made fires and primitive tools.

The mountain gorilla was only discovered by western zoologists in 1903, though
its existance had been rumored from "native" accounts for many years. Even
today there are people who believe in bigfoot, yeti, sasquatch, etc. Ota Benga
was a perfectly believable missing link, suitable for demonstration of Darwin's
theory of evolution at the time. His display sign did not say "human", it said
"pygmy". Ota Benga was the only human ever to be exhibited in an animal cage as
a representative of a being that might not be human, according to the beliefs
of that time. He was the first African forest person to settle in the U.S.A.

					Phillips Verner Bradford
					pvb@csn.org
-- 
Phillips V. Bradford, Sc.D.			office: (303) 620-4777
Executive Director				FAX: (303) 620-4789
Colorado Advanced Technology Institute		pvb@csn.org
1625 Broadway, Suite 700, Denver, CO 80202