Spectacle: The Astonishing Life of Ota Benga – Pamela Newkirk

When traveling back to Jersey, from Connecticut, depending on traffic I sometimes pass the Bronx Zoo.  And each time I think, ‘they exhibited a Black man there…’

I had heard of the story but like most, didn’t really know the details.  Me, knowing anything dealing with Black/White from that era, especially for profit, didn’t produce a good outcome for the Black, assumed the worse – and my assumption was right.

In 1904, Ota Benga was a Congolese pygmy who was brought to America against his will and displayed like an animal in a cage with an Orangutan.  Exploited by his captor Samuel Phillips Verner who delivered him to William Temple Hornaday, the zoo’s director.  In collusion with the media, for years they denied the extent of his captivity and even lied saying Ota could’ve left at anytime and enjoyed being housed with the Orangutan.

Eventually ‘freed,’ Ota was able to live with other Blacks in a Black community but his homesick-ness for the Congo led to him committing suicide at the age of 46.

It’s the exploit-ment for personal gain that is rampant through the relationship between Blacks and Whites in addition to an agenda supporting the fact that Blacks are subhuman to justify this mistreatment.  Both were on full display in this book.

What hits home is that this took place in 1904, not that long ago.  Although no one is still alive that can remember this incident, that was only 3 generations ago and those mindsets and ideals may still linger on…