This picture is of Ota Benga, the African Pygmy who was brought from the Congo to live in the Bronx Zoo in New York. This action shows the start of classifying races in American and European society in the late 1800s early 1900s. Instead of seeing this as something cruel, this was regarded as scientific, and the exhibit was something that was "intriguing" for everyone to see. Ota Benga was placed in the same habitat that the monkeys were in, which showed how the European mind classified races at the time. The zoo director William Hornaday apparently saw no difference between an orengutan and a "little black boy".
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Lizzie this is really good, I cant wait to see your presentation at the end. However by any chance do you know, how did William Hornaday not see the difference between Ota Benga and an orangutan? What were the similarities between the two that made Hornaday place them in the same exhibit as an orangutan? Because could he have not placed Ota Benga with a chimpanzee instead? Sorry for so many questions but you really got me thinking on how Ota Benga was "classified".
ReplyDeleteThanks Karla. Sorry I wasn't very clear on the topic. What I was trying to get across was that Hornaday didn't see much of a difference between a monkey and this African Pygmy, which showed how the Europeans thought of him and the other Pygmies. I was pointing out how lowly he was thought of, which connects back to racial classification in that time.
ReplyDeleteSo Hornaday used no evidence/science to back up why he placed Ota Benga there? Because i would of thought that after the Scientific Revolution there would have to be some evidence or reasoning behind his idea. Were people really that racist that just because you are lower you are seen as an animal? Or did he have very strong beliefs on African Pygmies and such?
ReplyDeleteIt is really sad that stuff like this happened in the past. How could people be ignorant enough to do something like this. This really shows one of the worst things that came out of Darwin's theories, and this is why ultimately I believe that Darwin's discoveries did nothing but harm society.
ReplyDeleteAnd this is supposed to be after the civil war....... This is horrible. How can you treat a human being like an animal, and then put them up for display. The reality of the world today is astounding. They took away Ota Benga's life and gave him hell. This is happening some years after slavery was abolished, yet this takes slavery to the highest degree.
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