In 1906, the Bronx Zoo Exhibited a man in a Cage, with Apes

If this is the wrong forum spot, please move it.

Source

I do understand that well past that time, there were 'Freak Shows', but that was often the only way people with odd disabilities could make a living. This is different, this is the case of a man taken from his home and exhibited in a large city zoo.

To me, this is an example of how, long after the time of slavery in the US, African Americans were not treated like poeple, let alone given civil rights or fantastic opportunities. Still today, I see comments in regard to riots or high crime rates in African American communities as if it is a mystery. Or comments saying 'get over it'. In 1906, it looks like we had a black man in a cage, in a city funded zoo. It is no mystery to me.

So many kiillings by police, one of a child playing with a toy gun...shot down without even a chance, not even seconds to respond, murdered in cold blood. I would be a tiny bit upset as well.

That truly is digusting. This is an example of how backward we really were, and the progress that has been made. I still don't understand where the police brutality and stuff came into the post. I am trying to understand, but is it to point out a reason why blacks should feel mad and act out? If I am wrong please let me know. I am just trying to understand what the second part of your post was intended to mean.

I for one can acknowledge the mistakes and pure disgusting acts that have been made in the past. I don't live in the past though.

a reply to: reldra

Wow! That is shocking and sad. It opens ones eyes up to how vicious people can be. I feel a lot of the racial issues today are firmly rooted in the cultures of all races. By that I mean your racial experience and the stories passed down seem to continue to divide even though many are not racist but still viewed as such. I don't know how humans will be able to put this to rest. It may take hundreds of years or more. Or if we are invaded by an alien race and realize we are all human brothers and sisters and quit striking out at one another and use the strengths of all peoples to strengthen the human race overall.

a reply to: reldra

As much as some would like to paint this as a racial issue, it is in fact simple human nature and far from the only example of this taking place.

At one point in time, up until sometime during World War II, human zoos were just a part of life that we came to know as "Freak Shows." Admittedly these were often terrible things in and of themselves and alot of people were abused for simple curiosity but you gotta realize that at this point in history some could call their lives the best of a bad lot.

After all, look at the alternatives and consider life in a mental asylum in that time period or just about any "hospital" outside the modern world.

In a lot of ways the guy from the OP's article got off lucky. He was just a pygmy, a natural curiosity at the time, but he did go on to lead something of a free life. I'd also like to point out, and perhaps i missed this, but it was never clearly stated why the many people who were trying to free him didn't send him home themselves. I imagine the wealthy elite could have afforded it.

Interesting story nonetheless.

Wow, he lived in my town for 6 years! It says he was in Lynchburg, VA from 1910 -1916. I've spent 30 years here and never heard of Ota Benga before. We do have an old black seminary here; Union Theological Seminary - it says he was a student initially before getting a job in a tobacco factory (someone here invented the cigarette rolling machine - you know the rest of the story).

We already had Jerry Falwell of Moral Majority fame and Carter Glass, the man responsible for the swing vote on the Federal Reserve System, now Ota Benga as well. This is a small city (less than 100,000) and I'm constantly amazed by some of the people who lived here. I was a wedding last weekend at a Civil War fort no less and a sign there listed the Confederate officers - one of whom happened to be the former Vice President of the United States - John C Breckinridge.

Sad tale of Ota Benga though he was far from unique in that regard. We did the same with Native Americans (Ishi), Aboriginees as well as Eskimos. We truly have come light years in the last 100 years so far as racial attitudes are concerned. I think if it wasn't for the race hustlers out there racism would barely be a blip on most people's screens.

a reply to: Asktheanimals

Did they make him sleep and eat in a cage or did he have like a little shack apartment in the back for after hours? Because one is like a job... a really really really crap job... and the other is just wrong. Very Wrong.

While what happened to Ota Benga is inexcusable, it should also raise the conditions of the various pygmy tribes today in parts of Africa.
www.survivalinternational.org...

The abuse of indigenous groups like the pygmies and Khoisan by their agricultural Bantu neighbors (who colonized their lands just as much as Europeans did to indigenous people) is sometimes shocking.

Pygmies were kept in a zoo at a music festival in the Republic of the Congo as recently as 2007.
news.bbc.co.uk...

Not only are the various pygmy nations hunted, abused and accused of poaching on their own land, but they are also sometimes cannibalized in witchcraft rituals.
news.bbc.co.uk...

Ota Benga's fate in Africa is often overlooked, although as an individual his life was a tragedy.
Initially saved from cannibalism, he was apparently once returned, but then his new wife died of a snakebite and he was accused of witchcraft (a scary proposition in Africa until this very day) and he begged to be taken away again.
He couldn't go back, and belonged in neither world.

So while historical Western racism is important, the reality for minorities in sometimes racist black Africa today should not be overlooked.

originally posted by: Thorneblood
a reply to: reldra

As much as some would like to paint this as a racial issue, it is in fact simple human nature and far from the only example of this taking place.

At one point in time, up until sometime during World War II, human zoos were just a part of life that we came to know as "Freak Shows." Admittedly these were often terrible things in and of themselves and alot of people were abused for simple curiosity but you gotta realize that at this point in history some could call their lives the best of a bad lot.

After all, look at the alternatives and consider life in a mental asylum in that time period or just about any "hospital" outside the modern world.

In a lot of ways the guy from the OP's article got off lucky. He was just a pygmy, a natural curiosity at the time, but he did go on to lead something of a free life. I'd also like to point out, and perhaps i missed this, but it was never clearly stated why the many people who were trying to free him didn't send him home themselves. I imagine the wealthy elite could have afforded it.

Interesting story nonetheless.

I addressed 'Freak Shows' in the OP. This was a city funded zoo.

originally posted by: LoverBoy
That truly is digusting. This is an example of how backward we really were, and the progress that has been made. I still don't understand where the police brutality and stuff came into the post. I am trying to understand, but is it to point out a reason why blacks should feel mad and act out? If I am wrong please let me know. I am just trying to understand what the second part of your post was intended to mean.

I for one can acknowledge the mistakes and pure disgusting acts that have been made in the past. I don't live in the past though.

I did not say 'should', but I believe is is a natural consequence thereof.

originally posted by: spirit_horse
a reply to: reldra

Wow! That is shocking and sad. It opens ones eyes up to how vicious people can be. I feel a lot of the racial issues today are firmly rooted in the cultures of all races. By that I mean your racial experience and the stories passed down seem to continue to divide even though many are not racist but still viewed as such. I don't know how humans will be able to put this to rest. It may take hundreds of years or more. Or if we are invaded by an alien race and realize we are all human brothers and sisters and quit striking out at one another and use the strengths of all peoples to strengthen the human race overall.

If it is tradition that would be racist even if they don't know they are.

I do sometimes get frustrated when I am listening to reports and reading articles (especially recently in regards to the police shootings and the reactions to them) that infer that this country is no better than we were 100 or 200 years ago, and list recent events to 'prove' the point.

I neither excuse or approve of any abuse of others due to race, condition, or gender preference. And I recognize improvements are still desirable and should be the goal of everyone.

However just one look around the world or one look into the past, and most of us should be able to see that generally, our western society has improved immensely on the human condition from the past, and improved immensely in the way we treat the aforementioned others over how some groups in other parts of the world treat people today.

I do fear we may be going backwards in some ways.....

originally posted by: lakesidepark
I do sometimes get frustrated when I am listening to reports and reading articles (especially recently in regards to the police shootings and the reactions to them) that infer that this country is no better than we were 100 or 200 years ago, and list recent events to 'prove' the point.

I neither excuse or approve of any abuse of others due to race, condition, or gender preference. And I recognize improvements are still desirable and should be the goal of everyone.

However just one look around the world or one look into the past, and most of us should be able to see that generally, our western society has improved immensely on the human condition from the past, and improved immensely in the way we treat the aforementioned others over how some groups in other parts of the world treat people today.

I do fear we may be going backwards in some ways.....

Actually one of the best posts Ive read on ATS in a week.

I am seriously curious if this was a forced job on the kid or this was him being in a cage like an animal 24hrs a day. There are degrees of evil and after a google search I do not know what degree this was...


As to your post lakeside park... you nailed it. Aborigines (sp) were hunted like wolves... 1mill armenians were cleansed in a 10 year period. The human history is horrible and atrocious... But we are getting better.

100 years ago a lot of New Yorkers had never seen a monkey or an African pygmy live in person, today it would be another 'photo op' in a 'politically correct' environment like youtube video not in person

originally posted by: reldra
If this is the wrong forum spot, please move it.

Source

I do understand that well past that time, there were 'Freak Shows', but that was often the only way people with odd disabilities could make a living. This is different, this is the case of a man taken from his home and exhibited in a large city zoo.

To me, this is an example of how, long after the time of slavery in the US, African Americans were not treated like poeple, let alone given civil rights or fantastic opportunities. Still today, I see comments in regard to riots or high crime rates in African American communities as if it is a mystery. Or comments saying 'get over it'. In 1906, it looks like we had a black man in a cage, in a city funded zoo. It is no mystery to me.

So many kiillings by police, one of a child playing with a toy gun...shot down without even a chance, not even seconds to respond, murdered in cold blood. I would be a tiny bit upset as well.

I hear your point, and expand on it to show that not that long ago, "developed western nations" believed that other cultures were inferior, especially "savage" indigenous groups.

This is clearly demonstrated in the history of how Europeans treated the Native Americans.

For a parallel to your post:

www.sfgate.com...

Ishi, the last of the Yahi native people of California, was found in the early 1900's and kept at a museum.

As to your points about violence, resentment, riots, and so on, I think that there is a good point to be made here, both currently and formerly.

It seems that most people, including white Americans, do not understand nor have they studied how people's IQ, behavior, economic opportunity, educational achievement, criminal behavior, social mobility, etc, are formed by historical variables, socio-economic variables, cultural context, cycles of poverty, etc.

This goes not just for low-income people living in America today, which are disproportionally people of color due to the variables I mentioned, but also true for the development of indigenous groups such as some sub-Saharan tribes and the Native Americans.

Because most people don't understand how these are not inherent problems but instead due to context, they blame low-income people today for their situation AND they blamed indigenous groups for being less "developed."

a reply to: reldra
If it is tradition that would be racist even if they don't know they are.

I am not sure it is tradition, but I know that the elders that lived in very harsh racist times often tell stories to their children or grandchildren that seems to create the hatred in the younger generations. I live in the south and have heard stories from all sides. It was bad down here and is completely different experience then when I lived in Michigan. You don't hear those kind of stories being passed down to the children through generations. You would think if the younger generations are growing up together and getting along fine that it would be divisive to keep the memories going.

However, saying that, I can understand doing so because there is a need to not forget where we don't want to go back to. I went through the schools down here being forcibly desegregated and busing people all over the place due to federal court orders. I had lots of friends of every color and creed. I was always kind of shocked at the things I heard the older people saying to the kids. There is a lot of hatred and it is sad coming from all sides. I had been taken to a private club when I was 14 y.o. by a relative.The Grand Dragon of the local klan was there. The extremes of this hatred was sickening. I am only 50 now, but I do remember it all like it was yesterday. It is one of the reasons I don't know how racism will be resolved. It runs on all sides here and often you don't know who you are talking to. There are police in the klan and also police that are hard core anti-racist. I guess what I am trying to say is it seems as if the younger generations could put it all behind them but are constantly reminded, even reared with the hatred from the elders.

It is a very difficult issue to try to understand how we as a society can bring about an end to it all together or if it is even possible on some levels. I am one that feels persecuted for things I was never involved in or believed in. I suppose it is to be expected as the pendulum swings in the other direction. I don't understand how for example we are blamed just for being a white male, regardless of what the truth is. I do understand the idea of institutionalized racism and the detrimental effects in the system left still to this day. So, I can see where they come from saying the system is rigged. I especially saw it in law enforcement in what was the good ol boy system of justice. They would intentionally bring in one black agent to make certain arrests just so they couldn't play the race card. And it was all discussed up front. I have seen whites walk on the same crimes a black man got 640 years for (did the crime together).

Something must be done, and the younger generations in law enforcement and intelligence are markedly different that the older generations leaving through retirement and attrition. It is a sad state of affairs and I could go on for days with stories like this. I don't think it helps, but it must be understood and dealt with to create a truly equal system and society.

a reply to: reldra

You'd be surprised at how much change a 100 years can actually bring. China went from a semi-medieval state under Empress Dowager Cixi to a modern industrialized state in about a 100 years. Now they've got nukes, submarines, modern fighter jets and a space program.

I agree to a certain extent though, but I also believe that cultural Marxism and all the accompanying delusions of modern political correctness have gone too far. The middle aged white heterosexual male has become the enemy of all other demographic groups and are being painted as the universal bad guy. The poor average white schmoe, he's not getting away with anything close to what the globalists are, they get away with just about anything. And everybody else are just victims, these social justice warriors are too cowardly to identify and criticize the real power structure. They're fake and their struggle is fake and contrived. Their externalized control loci and their victim mentalities are on the verge of pathology. So many feminists are clearly insane and irrational in the extreme yet society courts and exalts this mentality and it has become the only acceptable view to a very large slice of the population.. In all of the Western World. You know what they say about repeating a lie often enough.. What their vain and self-righteous struggle amounts to in the real world is further division and animosity between different demographic groups. Social justice warriors are being used. So are blacks, so are everybody.