I recently came across an interesting thing online about a boy named Ota Benga. Ota Benga was a Congolese Mbubti pygmy that in 1906 was featured in a controversial human zoo exhibit at the Bronx Zoo. His display was intended to promote the concepts of human evolutiuon and scientific racism. The publics protests against the exhibit led to the end of the of Bengas participation at the zoo. He then lived in an orphanage and was pushed to be americanized. With the onset of World War I Bengas return to the Congo was impossible and he took his own life. I thought this was extrememly interesting because it was similar to the Sarah Baartman case. Its just another example of how someone was displayed like an animal in a zoo due to their different physical characteristics. It just seems so crazy that this was ever allowed to take place.
-Ryan Fleming blog#8
Great example, Ryan. If you or anyone else is interested in reading more about Benga I would recommend Rachel Adams's book Sideshow U.S.A. in which she includes a chapter on Benga.
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