The Sickening Story of How a Congolese Man Was Displayed in a Zoo in 1906

Wyatt Redd - December 3, 2017

In the early months of 1904, Samuel Philips Verner found himself hacking his way through the thick jungles of the Congo Basin. He had already sailed a long way from his home in South Carolina and once he arrived in Africa, he hired a steamboat to take him as far up the Congo River as possible. When the boat would go no further, he hired a team of natives to guide him deep into the interior of the continent. Verner was on a mission to acquire a very rare specimen to exhibit at an upcoming exposition. And the specimen he was seeking was human.

While Verner trekked through the jungle, another man, Ota Benga, was enduring his own trials. Benga was a member of the Mbuti, a tribe that lives in the forests of the Congo Basin. At the time, the Congo was the personal possession of the Belgian King. And his personal army, the Force Publique, cut a bloody swath of terror across the region. One day, while Benga was hunting, the Force Publique attacked his village, slaughtering his wife and children. With nothing to return to, Benga fled into the jungle. There, he was soon captured by slavers.

But by sheer chance, these slavers happened to cross paths with Verner a few weeks later. And when Verner saw Benga, he knew that his search was over. Benga’s tribe- the Mbuti- are pygmies, which means that they are on average less than five feet tall. And they were exactly the type of people Verner was hired to bring back to St. Louis. Verner quickly offered to buy Benga from the slavers, and they reached a deal to exchange Benga for a pound of salt and a bolt of cloth. With Benga in tow, Verner set out to complete his disturbing collection.

Verner and Benga traveled to a nearby Batwa village where Verner heard he might be able to find more pygmies. But once they reached the village, they found that the Force Publique had already visited the area, and their brutality had made the people very distrustful of white men. As a result, Verner was unable to recruit any more volunteers to take part in the exhibition. But Benga spoke out, telling the Batwa that Verner had helped free him from the slavers and that he wanted to see the strange world that Verner planned to take him to.

With Benga’s help, Verner managed to convince another five pygmies to accompany him back to the United States. And Verner also recruited a number of non-pygmy Africans, including the son of a local king. The benefactor who paid for the trip made it clear that Verner was to collect as many different varieties of people as possible. In particular, he wanted people who varied in height and “stages of development.” He needed these people because he was putting together an exhibit that he thought would demonstrate the evolution of mankind. And that exhibit would take the form of a “human zoo.”

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William McGee, the anthropologist who hired Verner to bring Benga to the United States, intended to display him along with other groups of people from all over the world at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. This “human zoo” was meant to display different cultures and bring attention to the fledgling field of anthropology. But there was also a darker purpose behind it. Each group was meant to represent a different stage in human development. And when the predominately white audience examined the people on display, the idea was that they would recognize themselves as the pinnacle of civilization.

When Benga and the other people in his group arrived in St. Louis, they were meant to serve as an example of the least developed people on the planet. And that’s exactly how Benga was presented. Like many Mbuti people, Benga had his teeth filed into points as a ceremonial decoration. This feature made it easy to portray Benga as a savage beast, and he was billed to visitors as “the only genuine African cannibal in America.” However, Benga was certainly not a cannibal or a beast, and people were often struck by how naturally friendly he was.

But Benga remained a frightening curiosity to visitors, and he quickly became one of the most popular attractions at the fair. Benga and the Batwa pygmies in his group soon realized they could make a bit of money by charging visitors to see their teeth or take photographs together. However, their popularity with visitors quickly became a burden on the group. Naturally, they wanted to find time to quietly gather together outside of the exhibit at least one day a week. But the swarming crowds made these moments of relaxation impossible. When Verner came to visit, he noted that the pygmies were essentially prisoners.

But Benga made the most of his temporary captivity and struck up a friendship with the Apache leader Geronimo, who was also the subject of an exhibition at the fair. The Native Americans were often paired in performances with the Africans, and the two men quickly came to respect each other. Geronimo eventually gave Benga an arrowhead as a token of their friendship. With the fair coming to an end, Verner was awarded a gold medal in anthropology for his work in arranging the exhibition. And after recovering from a bout of malaria, he accompanied Benga on the voyage home.

Back in Africa, Benga tried to make a new life with the Batwa and eventually married a Batwa woman. However, when his new wife died of a snakebite, the Batwa decided Benga was cursed and banished him. So, Benga left and traveled across Africa with Verner on his later expeditions. And when Verner finally returned to America, Benga decided to go with him. There, Verner briefly managed to find Benga work in a museum. But struggling to adapt to American society, Benga soon found himself back in a zoo.

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In 1906, Verner approached the director of the Bronx Zoo and suggested that they could give Benga a job maintaining the animal cages. The director agreed and hired Benga, but soon realized that the visitors seemed more interested in Benga than the animals on display. And so, the Zoo suggested putting Benga himself on display for visitors. Benga was soon placed in the monkey house, where he would shoot a bow and arrow as visitors gawked and sometimes threw things at him. Over time, their abuse understandably began to upset Benga.

One day, Benga fired his bow into a crowd that was tormenting him. Although the incident didn’t result in any injuries, the zoo soon realized that Benga was becoming a liability. There had already been calls to shut the exhibit down. Prominent African-American reverend James Gordon was an early and vocal opponent of the display, saying, “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.” And in spite of the racism that was prominent during the period, enough people agreed with Gordon that the Zoo finally decided to release Benga.

Reverend Gordon arranged for Benga to live at an orphanage where he could start building a new life, but the press continued to hound him. In order to get him away from the unwelcome attention, Gordon arranged for Benga to move to Lynchburg, Virginia, where he was taken in by the McCray family. There Gordon once again tried to help Benga adapt to American society. Gordon paid to Benga’s filed teeth capped so that his appearance wouldn’t be as alarming to Americans. Benga was then enrolled in a local elementary school so that he could improve his English.

Eventually, Benga found work in a tobacco factory. He was immediately a popular employee, as he could climb up into the rafters to retrieve tobacco without a ladder. His co-workers soon took to calling him “Bingo” and paid him sandwiches and root beer in exchange for hearing the story of his extraordinary life. But in spite of his success at adapting to his new circumstances, Benga longed for his home in Africa. He missed the familiar sights and sounds of the Congo. And so, he began making plans to return.

But in 1914, war broke out and passenger shipping to Africa was suspended, shattering Benga’s dream of returning home. Heartbroken, Benga fell into a deep depression for the next two years. Finally, on March 20, 1916, Benga left home and walked into an abandoned barn. There he built a ceremonial fire and knocked the caps off of his teeth before shooting himself in the heart with a pistol. Benga was buried in Virginia, thousands of miles away from his home. It was a tragic end to a life that was far too filled with tragedy and a grim reminder of the toll it can take when someone is stripped of their humanity.

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