Lessons a century after the racist zoo caging of Congolese ‘Ota Benga’ in America

A bit over a hundred years ago is not very far in history. There is at least a generation familiar to the readers who at least knew people who lived around 120 years ago. As such, the history of 120 years ago is close to ours and can easily be communicated with minimal errors by oral tradition.

120 years ago, although slavery and the domination of foreign nations over much of Africa were at their peak, the world had—at least in principle—acknowledged the fundamental measures of human dignity and worth and what it truly means to be human. The enslavement of Africans persisted not because the perpetrators were unaware that it was morally wrong or ignorant of the fundamental principles of humanity, but rather due to a deliberate preference for power dynamics and a systematised choice to suppress and oppress others for their own benefit.

It is a significant coincidence that the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is observed globally on March 21, while Mbye Otabenga, a long-term victim of abuse and discrimination, tragically ended his life on March 20, 1916, after enduring the distress of dehumanisation at the hands of elite America.

We will explore his case in search of historical lessons, not anachronistically by imposing today's knowledge and values onto the past, but rather by drawing purposeful connections to the remnants of discriminatory structures and situations that persist today, both domestically and internationally, while recognising the former as deliberate brutality for gain.

The case of Mbye Otabenga (c. 1883-1916), now popularly known as “Ota Benga”, a Congolese young man from the Mbuti indigenous forest people, who was put in the zoo in America, is not isolated from the deep-rooted and widespread oppression and suppression of people of different races by the Caucasians of Europe and America, who at the time dominated science, trade, media, and publications.

The degrading oppression of people of African origin who have been referred to by the colour ‘black’, a hugely controversial and widely unacceptable taxonomy, has for centuries been given both reason and justification, meaning by manipulating science in favour of the pervading oppressive idea.

Mr Samuel Verner (1873-1943), who took Ota Benga and other tribal people from across the world for exhibition in the human zoo in America, was a missionary and explorer who traded African animals. There is a big contradiction of values here, especially since he was a missionary. On the other hand, he was trusted for this organised abusive task because he was experienced with trading and transporting animals to America, a clear sign of the enduring presumption of superiority of the people of his race to all other people in the world.

The practice of keeping humans of different races in zoos is not new in history in the West, with France, Belgium, Germany, the United States, and the United Kingdom having the most zoos. But the fact that such brutality happened just a hundred years ago is a concern.

Ota Benga was displayed at the St Louis World's Fair (1904) and later at the Bronx Zoo in New York (1906), together with an orangutan, an ape, in a zoo whose director, William Temple Hornaday (1854-1937), was a well-educated scientist.

From his scientific knowledge, he should have known that Ota Benga was human and undeserving of such treatment, but he went on to exhibit him with the orangutan ape, instructed him to dance and play with the ape, locked him in the same cage with it, and entertained public mockery of fairgoers who threw peanuts at him as if he were a monkey.

Western scientists used mere pseudoscientific claims to dehumanise people of African origin, portraying them as less than human with an inherent and scientifically justified inferiority, without even justifying such claims scientifically.

Our young people need to learn that this happened just 100 years ago. This will help shape their mindset as independent and dignified people and enable them to look at the Western powers with care, so as not to repeat the mistakes written in history.

We can ask, how come all bilateral conversations are presented as if in our favour, yet 100 years ago we were considered less human and fit for zoo display for the entertainment of a so-considered superior race? Is such a quick shift realistic based on the global dynamics ruled by the desire of powerful individuals and nations to acquire more wealth, power, and control? Why should we be favoured while at the same time there is a complex systemic oppression of people who share our origins in those same countries?

Shimbo Pastory is a Tanzanian advocate for positive social transformation. He is a student of Loyola School of Theology, Ateneo de Manila University, Manila, Philippines. Website: www.shimbopastory.com