Ota Benga (c. 1883 – March 20, 1916) was a
CongoleseThe Democratic Republic of the Congo is a country located in Central Africa, with a small length of Atlantic coastline. It is the third largest country in Africa...
pygmy who was featured in a 1906
human zooHuman zoos were 19th and 20th century public exhibits of human beings, usually in a "natural" or "primitive" state. The displays often emphasized the cultural differences between Europeans of Western Civilization and non-European peoples...
exhibit at
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
's
Bronx ZooThe Bronx Zoo is a zoo located within the Bronx Park, in The Bronx borough of New York City. The largest metropolitan zoo in the United States, the Bronx Zoo comprises of park lands and naturalistic habitats, through which the Bronx River flows...
. Benga came to the United States through the action of businessman and missionary Samuel Phillips Verner. Under contract from the
Louisiana Purchase ExpositionThe Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the Saint Louis World's Fair, was an international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri in 1904.-Background:...
, Verner negotiated Benga's release from slave traders in 1904 following his capture by the
Force PubliqueThe "Public Force" or Force Publique was the official armed force for what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1885, , through the period of direct Belgian rule...
—which had also attacked his village, killing Benga's wife and two children.
Benga performed at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition later in 1904. After nearly two years of travel, including a return trip to Africa, Verner arranged for Benga to live at the Bronx Zoo. Benga roamed freely on the grounds and was encouraged to interact with patrons; he later came to be "exhibited" in the zoo's Monkey House as part of a display intended to promote the concepts of
human evolutionHuman evolution, or anthropogenesis, is the origin and evolution of Homo sapiens as a distinct species from other hominids, great apes and placental mammals...
and
scientific racismScientific racism is the use of scientific or ostensibly scientific findings and methods to investigate differences between races, often to support or validate racist attitudes and worldviews. It is based on belief in the existence and significance of racial categories, typically with a hierarchy...
.
Public outcry eventually led to Benga's removal from the zoo, and he was released into the custody of African American clergy. He lived in a local orphanage until he was relocated in 1910 to
Lynchburg, VirginiaLynchburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 72,596 at the 2008 U.S. census estimate. Located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains along the banks of the James River, Lynchburg is known as the "City of Seven Hills", "The Hill City" and sometimes...
. There he was groomed for the American way of life, dressing in Western-style clothing and attending primary school. When the outbreak of
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
made a return to the Congo impossible, Benga became depressed. In 1916, he committed suicide with a stolen
revolverA revolver is a repeating firearm that has a cylinder containing multiple chambers and at least one barrel for firing. As the user cocks the hammer, the cylinder revolves to align the next chamber and round with the hammer and barrel, which gives this type of firearm its name...
.
Early life
A member of the
MbutiMbuti or Bambuti are one of several indigenous pygmy groups in the Congo region of Africa. Their language belongs to the Central Sudanic subgroup of the Nilo-Saharan phylum.-Overview:...
people, Ota Benga lived in equatorial forests near the
Kasai RiverThe Kasai River is a tributary of the Congo River, located in central Africa. The river begins in Angola and serves as the border between Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo , then flows into the DRC, where it joins the Congo northeast of Kinshasa. The Kasai's tributaries include the...
in what was then the
Belgian CongoThe Belgian Congo was the formal title of present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo between King Leopold II's formal relinquishment of personal control over the state to Belgium on 15 November 1908, and the dawn of Congolese independence on 30 June 1960.-Background: 1884-1908:Until the later...
. His people lived in harmony with local villagers, maintaining amicable if cautious relations. When King
Leopold II of BelgiumLeopold II was King of the Belgians. Born in Brussels the second son of Leopold I and Louise-Marie of Orléans, he succeeded his father to the throne in 1865 and remained king until his death. He was the brother of Empress Carlota of Mexico and first cousin to Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom...
created the
Force PubliqueThe "Public Force" or Force Publique was the official armed force for what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1885, , through the period of direct Belgian rule...
to exploit the large supply of
rubberNatural rubber is an elastomer that was originally derived from a milky colloidal suspension, or latex, found in the sap of some plants. The purified form of natural rubber is the chemical polyisoprene, which can also be produced synthetically...
in the Congo, Benga's people were slaughtered by agents in Leopold's employ. He lost his wife and two children, surviving only because he was away on a hunting expedition at the time they were killed, but was later captured by slavers.
American businessman and missionary Samuel Phillips Verner was sent to Africa in 1904 under contract from the
Louisiana Purchase ExpositionThe Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the Saint Louis World's Fair, was an international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri in 1904.-Background:...
(St. Louis World Fair) to bring back an assortment of pygmies to perform in an exhibition. Noted scientist W. J. McGee, in hopes of legitimizing the fledgling discipline of
anthropologyAnthropology is the study of human beings, everywhere and throughout time....
, intended to display "representatives of all the world's peoples, ranging from smallest pygmies to the most gigantic peoples, from the darkest blacks to the dominant whites" to show a sort of
cultural evolutionScientific racism is the use of scientific or ostensibly scientific findings and methods to investigate differences between races, often to support or validate racist attitudes and worldviews. It is based on belief in the existence and significance of racial categories, typically with a hierarchy...
. Verner discovered Ota Benga en route to a Batwa village he had visited previously and negotiated Benga's release for a pound of salt and a bolt of cloth. The two spent several weeks together before reaching the village, where the rapidly deteriorating situation with King Leopold had instilled mistrust for the
muzungu (white man). Verner was unable to persuade any villagers to join him until Benga spoke of how the
muzungu had saved his life, the bond that had grown between them, and his own curiosity about the world Verner came from. Four Batwa, all male, ultimately accompanied them; five non-pygmies from the
BakubaThe Kuba Kingdom was a pre-colonial Central African state bordered by the Sankuru, Lulua, and Kasai rivers in the southeast of what is today the Democratic Republic of the Congo . The Kuba kingdom was a conglomerate of several smaller principalities of various ethnic origins...
(including the son of King Ndombe, ruler of the Bakuba) and related peoples – "Red Africans" as they were collectively labeled by contemporary anthropologists – came as well.
St. Louis
The group arrived in
St. Louis, MissouriSt. Louis is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. With an estimated population of 354,361 in 2008, it is the principal municipality of Greater St. Louis, population 2,866,517, the largest urban area in Missouri and sixteenth largest in the United States...
, without Verner (who had been taken ill with
malariaMalaria is a vector-borne infectious disease caused by a eukaryotic protist of the genus Plasmodium. It is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, including parts of the Americas, Asia, and Africa. Each year, there are approximately 350–500 million cases of malaria, killing between one and...
), in late June when the Louisiana Purchase Exposition had already begun. They immediately became the center of attention; referred to variously by the press as
Artiba,
Autobank,
Ota Bang, and
Otabenga, Ota Benga was particularly popular. In addition to his amicable personality, visitors were eager to see his teeth, which had been filed to sharp points in his early youth. As he and the others had learned to charge for photographs and performances, one newspaper account, promoting him as "the only genuine African cannibal in America", claimed "[his teeth were] worth the five cents he charges for showing them to visitors".
When Verner arrived a month later, he realized the pygmies were more prisoners than performers. Attempts to congregate peacefully in the forest on Sundays were thwarted by the crowds' fascination with them, as were attempts to present a "serious" scientific exhibit. On a July 28, an attempt to play to the crowd's preconceived notion that they were "savages" resulted in the First Illinois Regiment being called in to control the mob. Benga and the other Africans eventually performed in a military-style fashion, imitating that of the
IndiansNative Americans in the United States is the phrase that describes indigenous peoples from North America now encompassed by the continental United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii. They comprise a large number of distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of...
at the Exhibition. The Indian chief
GeronimoGeronimo was a prominent Native American leader and medicine man of the Chiricahua Apache who fought against Mexico and the United States and their expansion into Apache tribal lands for several decades.-Biography:Goyahkla was...
(himself on display as "The Human Tyger" – with special dispensation from the
Department of WarThe United States Department of War, also called the War Office, was the cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the US Army...
) came to admire Benga and gave him one of Geronimo's famed
arrowheadAn arrowhead is point of an arrow, or a shape resembling such a point; as archaeological artifacts arrowheads are a subclass of projectile points....
s. For his efforts, Verner was awarded the gold medal in anthropology at the Exposition's close.
Museum of Natural History
Benga accompanied Verner when he returned the other Africans, and briefly lived amongst the Batwa while continuing to accompany Verner on his African adventures. He married a Batwa woman who later died of snakebite, although little is known of his second marriage. Benga never felt a sense of belonging with the Batwa, and he chose to remain with Verner on his return trip to the United States.
Verner eventually arranged for Benga to stay in a spare room at the
American Museum of Natural HistoryThe American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York, USA, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...
in New York City while Verner tended to other business and negotiated with curator Henry Bumpus over acquisition of Verner's spoils from Africa and potential employment. While Bumpus was put off by the prohibitively high salary of $175 a month Verner had requested and unimpressed with Verner's credentials, he remained interested in Benga. Wearing a
duckDuck is the common name for a number of species in the Anatidae family of birds. The ducks are divided between several subfamilies listed in full in the Anatidae article; they do not represent a monophyletic group but a form taxon, since swans and geese are not considered ducks...
costume to entertain visitors, Benga initially enjoyed his time at the museum. He became homesick, however:
What at first held his attention now made him want to flee. It was maddening to be inside – to be swallowed whole – so long. He had an image of himself, stuffed, behind glass, but somehow still alive, crouching over a fake campfire, feeding meat to a lifeless child. Museum silence became a source of torment, a kind of noise; he needed birdsong, breezes, trees.
As a result, he began to incite mischief. He tried to slip past the guards as a large crowd was leaving the premises; when asked on one occasion to seat a wealthy donor's wife, he pretended to misunderstand, instead hurling the chair across the room, just missing the woman's head. Meanwhile, Verner was in financial despair and had made little progress in his negotiations with the museum. However, he would soon find another home for the pygmy.
Bronx Zoo
At the suggestion of Bumpus, Verner took Benga to the
Bronx ZooThe Bronx Zoo is a zoo located within the Bronx Park, in The Bronx borough of New York City. The largest metropolitan zoo in the United States, the Bronx Zoo comprises of park lands and naturalistic habitats, through which the Bronx River flows...
in 1904. Benga was allowed to roam the grounds freely, and he became fond of an
orangutanThe orangutans are two endangered species of great apes. Known for their intelligence, they live in trees and are the largest living arboreal animal. They have longer arms than other great apes, and their hair is typically reddish-brown, instead of the brown or black hair typical of other great apes...
named Dohong, "the presiding genius of the Monkey House", who had been taught to perform tricks and imitate human behavior. The events leading to his "exhibition" alongside Dohong were gradual: Benga spent some of his time in the Monkey House exhibit, and the zoo encouraged him to hang his
hammockThe hammock is a fabric sling used for sleeping or resting while suspended above ground. It normally consists of one or more cloth panels, or a woven network of twine or thin rope stretched with ropes between two firm points such as trees or posts. Hammocks were developed by native inhabitants of...
there, and to shoot his bow and arrow at a target. On the first day of the exhibit, September 8, 1906, visitors found Benga in the Monkey House. Soon, a sign on the exhibit read:
The African Pigmy, "Ota Benga."
Age, 23 years. Height, 4 feet 11 inches.
Weight, 103 pounds. Brought from the
Kasai River, Congo Free State, South Cen-
tral Africa, by Dr. Samuel P. Verner. Ex-
hibited each afternoon during September.
Bronx Zoo director
William HornadayWilliam Temple Hornaday, Sc.D. was an American zoologist, realtor, conservationist, author, poet and songwriter...
saw the exhibit as a valuable spectacle for his visitors, and was encouraged by
Madison GrantMadison Grant was an American lawyer, historian, and anthropologist, known primarily for his work as a eugenicist and conservationist...
, a prominent
scientific racistScientific racism is the use of scientific or ostensibly scientific findings and methods to investigate differences between races, often to support or validate racist attitudes and worldviews. It is based on belief in the existence and significance of racial categories, typically with a hierarchy...
and
eugenicistEugenics is the study and practice of selective breeding applied to humans, with the aim of improving the species. Widely popular in the early decades of the 20th century, after having become associated with the Holocaust, it has largely fallen into disrepute.- Overview :As a social movement...
. However, the exhibit evoked the immediate protests of
African AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa. In the United States, the terms are generally used for Americans with at least partial Sub-Saharan African ancestry...
clergymen. Said James H. Gordon, "Our race, we think, is depressed enough, without exhibiting one of us with the apes ... We think we are worthy of being considered human beings, with souls."
Gordon also considered the exhibition hostile to Christianity for its promotion of
DarwinismDarwinism is a term used for various movements or concepts related to ideas of transmutation of species or evolution, including ideas with no connection to the work of Charles Darwin. The meaning of Darwinism has changed over time, and varies depending on who is using the term...
: "The Darwinian theory is absolutely opposed to Christianity, and a public demonstration in its favor should not be permitted." A number of clergymen backed Gordon, if not because the exhibit was dehumanizing to African Americans, then because it was held to be "promoting"
DarwinismDarwinism is a term used for various movements or concepts related to ideas of transmutation of species or evolution, including ideas with no connection to the work of Charles Darwin. The meaning of Darwinism has changed over time, and varies depending on who is using the term...
. In defense of the depiction of Benga as a lesser human, an editorial in
The New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded in 1851 and published in New York City. The largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States, "The Gray Lady"—named for its staid appearance and style—is regarded as a national newspaper of record...
suggested:
We do not quite understand all the emotion which others are expressing in the matter ... It is absurd to make moan over the imagined humiliation and degradation Benga is suffering. The pygmies ... are very low in the human scale, and the suggestion that Benga should be in a school instead of a cage ignores the high probability that school would be a place ... from which he could draw no advantage whatever. The idea that men are all much alike except as they have had or lacked opportunities for getting an education out of books is now far out of date.
Benga was thereafter allowed to roam the grounds of the zoo as a sort of interactive exhibit. In response to his general situation and to verbal and physical prods from the crowds, his behavior became at first mischievous and then somewhat violent. Around this time, an article in
The New York Times stated, "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 zoo ultimately bowed to public pressure and had Benga removed from the zoo. For his part, Verner was unsuccessful in his continued search for employment, but he sneaked in occasionally to speak to Benga. The two had agreed that it was in Benga's best interests to remain in the United States despite the unwelcome spotlight thrust upon him by the zoo exhibit. Toward the end of 1906, Benga was released into Gordon's custody.
Later life
Gordon placed Benga in the Howard Colored Orphan Asylum, a church-sponsored
orphanageOrphanage is the name to describe a residential institution devoted to the care of orphans – children whose parents are deceased or otherwise unable to care for them...
of which Gordon was the superintendent, but the unwelcome press attention continued. In January 1910, Gordon arranged for Benga's relocation to
LynchburgLynchburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 72,596 at the 2008 U.S. census estimate. Located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains along the banks of the James River, Lynchburg is known as the "City of Seven Hills", "The Hill City" and sometimes...
,
VirginiaThe Commonwealth of Virginia is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" because it is the birthplace of eight U.S. presidents. The geography and climate of the state are shaped by the Blue...
. His teeth were capped and he was dressed in American-style clothes in an attempt to lead as close to a normal life as possible. Tutored by Lynchburg poet
Anne SpencerAnnie Bethel Spencer better known as Anne Spencer was an American Black poet and active participant in the New Negro Movement and Harlem Renaissance period....
, his English improved, and he attended elementary school at the Baptist Seminary in Lynchburg.
Once he felt his English had improved sufficiently, Benga discontinued his formal education and began working at a Lynchburg
tobaccoTobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as an organic pesticide, and in the form of nicotine tartrate it is used in some medicines. In consumption it most commonly appears in the forms of smoking, chewing, snuffing, or...
factory. Despite his small size, he proved a valuable employee because he could climb up the poles to get the tobacco leaves without having to use a ladder. His fellow workers called him "Bingo" and he would tell his life story in exchange for sandwiches and root beer. He began to plan a return to Africa.
When the
Great WarWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
broke out, a return to the Congo became impossible, and Benga became depressed as his hopes for a return to the Congo faded. On March 20, 1916, at the age of 32, he built a ceremonial fire, chipped off the caps on his teeth and shot himself in the heart with a stolen pistol. The death certificate listed his name as "Otto Bingo", a nickname he had acquired during his time in Lynchburg.
He was buried in an unmarked grave, records show, in the black section of the Old City Cemetery, near his benefactor, Gregory Hayes. At some point, however, both went missing. Local oral history indicates that Hayes and Ota Benga were eventually moved from the Old Cemetery to White Rock Cemetery, a burial ground that fell into disrepair.
Legacy
Phillips Verner Bradford, the grandson of Samuel Phillips Verner, authored a 1992 book on Ota Benga entitled
Ota Benga: The Pygmy in the Zoo. During his research for the book, he visited the
American Museum of Natural HistoryThe American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York, USA, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...
in New York, which holds a life mask and body cast of Ota Benga. To this day, the display is still labeled "Pygmy", rather than indicating Benga's name, despite objections that began almost a century ago from Verner himself.
The similarities between Ota Benga and
IshiIshi was the pseudonym of the last member of the Yahi, in turn the last surviving group of the Yana people of California. Ishi is believed to be the last Native American in Northern California to have lived most of his life completely outside the European American culture...
, the sole remaining member of a
Native AmericanNative Americans in the United States is the phrase that describes indigenous peoples from North America now encompassed by the continental United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii. They comprise a large number of distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of...
tribe who was displayed in
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
around the same period – including the subsequent publication of a book on the subject by the descendants of the scientists involved – have been observed. Adams (2001) argues that, rather than "mak[ing] racial, national, and species differences culturally intelligible" as the exhibits' creators intended, "the spectators came to question their own place within the hierarchy of human races and the narratives of progress on which that hierarchy relied". Rather than simply exposing the racism of the American public (as members of Ota and Ishi's respective races perceived them), the incidents served to humanize the cultures being displayed.
Writing about novel approaches to teach
historyHistory is the study of the human past, with special attention to the written record. Scholars who write about history are called historians. It is a field of research which uses a narrative to examine and analyse the sequence of events, and it often attempts to investigate objectively the patterns...
in U.S. classrooms, Yohuru Rashied Williams presents the "case" of Ota Benga as a way to open discussions of race and
eugenicsEugenics is the study and practice of selective breeding applied to humans, with the aim of improving the species. Widely popular in the early decades of the 20th century, after having become associated with the Holocaust, it has largely fallen into disrepute.- Overview :As a social movement...
in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, using the "CSI approach". Williams places students in the role of historians by having them "investigate" the scenario:
In the summer of 1906, the Bronx Zoo in New York was the scene of a curious exhibit (some called it a crime against humanity) that at its peak attracted some 40,000 visitors a day. What was on display at the famed monkey house at the zoo? How did it cost the zoo's director one of his "friends" and how did the troubling spectacle eventually help to put "Darwinian" theory on trial? Given your knowledge of U.S. history up to this point, how could this have happened in the cradle of liberty?
The students are provided with several contemporary news stories; in "solving" the case, they are instructed to base their conclusions on evidence rather than preexisting beliefs or prejudices. For instance, "They could not label the director of the zoo as a 'bad person' without exploring his actions and motivations in consigning Benga to the monkey house." The discussion that follows is intended to segue into coverage of relevant events in U.S. history such as
Plessy v. FergusonPlessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 , is a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in the jurisprudence of the United States, upholding the constitutionality of racial segregation even in public accommodations , under the doctrine of "separate but equal".The decision was handed down by a vote of 7 to 1...
,
Jim Crow lawsThe Jim Crow laws were state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965. They mandated de jure segregation in all public facilities, with a supposedly "separate but equal" status for black Americans...
and
social darwinismSocial Darwinism refers to various ideologies based on a concept that competition among all individuals, groups, nations, or ideas drives social evolution in human societies....
.
Ota Benga became the subject of a short film directed by the Brazilian Alfeu França. França recovered and used original movies recorded by Verner himself in the early 20th century to create the 2002 documentary
Ota Benga: A Pygmy in America. In Brazil the film was shown at the festival É Tudo Verdade ("It's All True"). The Brooklyn-based band
PinatalandPiñataland is a Brooklyn-based musical group created by David Wechsler and Doug Stone. Their songs are often about obscure historical events and people, including, among others:The pygmy Ota Benga...
have a song titled "Ota Benga's Name" on their album
Songs from the Forgotten Future Volume 1, which tells the story of Ota Benga. The bridge of the song is a poem from M.E. Buhler that appeared in
The New York Times.
The play
Ota Benga, Elegy for the Elephant was written by Dr. Ben B. Halm and staged at Fairfield University in 1997. A highly fictionalized version of Ota Benga appeared as a character in the 2006 fantasy film
The FallThe Fall is a film by Tarsem Singh, starring Lee Pace, Catinca Untaru, and Justine Waddell. It is based on the screenplay of the 1981 Bulgarian film Yo Ho Ho by Valeri Petrov. The film earned over $3 million worldwide and was met with mixed reviews...
and inspired the character of Ngunda Oti in the 2008 film
The Curious Case of Benjamin ButtonThe Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a 2008 American fantasy drama film directed by David Fincher. The screenplay by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord is loosely based on the 1921 short story of the same name by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The film stars Brad Pitt as a man who ages in reverse and Cate...
.
External links