Ota Benga | |
|---|---|
 Benga at the St. Louis World's Fair, 1904 | |
| Born | Mbye Otabenga[1] c. 1883 |
| Died | (aged 32–33) Lynchburg, Virginia, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Suicide |
| Resting place | White Rock Cemetery, Lynchburg, Virginia 37°23′56.23″N 79°7′58.41″W / 37.3989528°N 79.1328917°W |
| Occupation | Hunting |
| Height | 4 ft 11 in (150 cm) |
Ota Benga (c. 1883[2] – March 20, 1916) was a Mbuti (Congo pygmy) man, known for being featured in an exhibit at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri, and as a human zoo exhibit in 1906 at the Bronx Zoo. Benga had been purchased from native African slave traders by the explorer Samuel Phillips Verner,[3] a businessman searching for African people for the exhibition, who took him to the United States. While at the Bronx Zoo, Benga was allowed to walk the grounds before and after he was exhibited in the zoo's Monkey House. Benga was placed in a cage with an orangutan, regarded as both an offense to his humanity and a promotion of Darwinism.[4]
To enhance the primitive image and presumably protect himself if need be from the ape, he was given a functional bow and arrow. He used this instead to shoot at visitors who mocked him and partially as a result of this the exhibition was ended.[5] Except for a brief visit to Africa with Verner after the close of the St. Louis fair, Benga lived in the United States, mostly in Virginia, for the rest of his life.
African-American newspapers around the nation published editorials strongly opposing Benga's treatment. Robert Stuart MacArthur, spokesman for a delegation of black churches, petitioned New York City Mayor George B. McClellan Jr. for his release from the Bronx Zoo. In late 1906, the mayor released Benga to the custody of James H. Gordon, who supervised the Howard Colored Orphan Asylum in Brooklyn.
In 1910, Gordon arranged for Benga to be cared for in Lynchburg, Virginia, where he paid for his clothes and to have his sharpened teeth capped. This would enable Benga to be more readily accepted in local society. Benga was tutored in English and began to work at a Lynchburg tobacco factory.
He tried to return to Africa, but the outbreak of World War I in 1914 stopped all passenger ship travel. Benga developed depression and died by suicide in 1916.[6]
- ^ Graves, Katherine (September 15, 2017). "Ota Benga Honored". The Critograph. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
- ^ Bradford and Blume (1992), p. 54.
- ^ Crawford, John R. (1982). "Pioneer African Missionary: Samuel Phillips Verner". Journal of Presbyterian History (1962-1985). 60 (1): 42–57. JSTOR 23328464.
- ^ Keller, Mitch (August 6, 2006). "The Scandal at the Zoo". The New York Times.
- ^ "The Language Of Genes" by Steve Jones, p. 197.
- ^ Evanzz, Karl (1999). The Messenger: The Rise and Fall of Elijah Muhammad. New York: Pantheon Books. ISBN 978-0679442608.