Human Zoos: 100 Years Ago

  100 years ago, urban cities were starting to devolp. As the cities started to devolp, people had more leisure time. With this newfound leisure time people would go out and look around for enterainment at movies, watching sports games, amusenment parks, zoos, and much more. One thing that people found very entertaining was the idea  of seeing people locked up behind cages, people different than the "normal white American." This idea was so interesting to Americans that  they would go to zoos to see people on display to watch how people that don't look like them act and behave. These places were called human zoos. They put different types of people on display, such as Native Americans, midgets, pygmy, anyone different than the white American. Most zoos put this idea into action to show something different and to increase the number of visitors in their zoo.
 
  One source of entertainment for Americans was Coney Island in New York. It feautred many rides and fun activities but one of the most popular attractions was in Dreamland. It was called Midget Village. This attraction was for pure entertainment. The man who had an idea behind it was very fond of clowns, but knew that they are everywhere. He wanted to change it up and give the people watching a different variety of things to see. Midget Village is exactly what it sounds like. Over 300 midgets inhabited a little town with everything a city would have. It had a circus, theatre, beach, stables, fire department, they even had their own parliment. "Giants", people of a normal size, would occaisonally walk through and pretend to scare the little people to add more entertainment value. People found this very amusing.
 
  Eventually, the idea was taken a little further. In Chicago world's fair another human zoo attraction was taken in, called Eskimo Village.Twelve Inuit families from Labrador were brought to Chicago. This was also a staple attraction at the time. The Inuit's only agreed to this because they were going to recieve a "free home" There were many rebellions by Eskimo tribes demanding that their freedom was taken away. The workers would not listen to this because it brought many new visitors to the fair. Many inuits escaped and started a tribe in another location saying "the contractor had taken them away from their home." This was just the opposite of what they had agreed to do. Though locked up, some were able to be successful. Esther Eneuseak found her career in the Eskimo Village. Born in the village, she worked in circuses and even was the first Inuit to star in Hollywood films. This was not always the normal situtation because the Inuits were not always treated how they should be. This exhibit was interesting to Americans but in a different way than Midget Village.

  Lastly the exhibit in Bronx zoo, was not only for entertainment but almost seen as an experiment. Ota Benga was a human Pygmy locked behind bars with an ape. He was discovered by the African explorer Samuel Verner and first brought into St. Louis. He was described as  and "embematic savage. Americans at this time, believed in Social Darwinism. They thought the whites were the highest power and dominmant than all of the others. The African American comitee protested against something this wrong but Mayor McClellan said he was "too busy" to speak to them. He made his secartary write a note saying it was not his business and to take it up with the Zoological Gardens. The mayor was not happy when people brought up the idea of taking Ota out of the because he attracted over 40,000 visitors a day. All over the news priests and negro ministers protested because this form of entertainment was taken too far. A Jew named Franz Boa opposed and protested as well because he did not believe in this idea. In newspapers they were trying to get rid of him. In New York, "Zoo has pygmy too many...he does not bite, his manners are variuous." The way they describes this 4ft man was like an animal. That was also how he was treated. After being taken in by a host family he borrowed a gun and killed him self in a forrest, because his life was so miserable.
 
  It started with entertainment and led to Social Darwinism. Many contended that "races" like biological species struggled for existance. Americans thought they were the strongest, imperical nation and could take over the world. One man said "Some races, (namely) white, left the ape far behind, while other races, pygmy hardly matured at all." "This idea required "darkest blacks" to set off against "dominant whites" and members of lowest known culture to contrast with it's highest culminatation." Americans liked to visit other "races" and "species" to show off how much higher they live. Human zoos were not only used for entertainment purposes but to show off white American's power.



Ota Benga, the human pygmy





This baby, Nancy, was born in Eskimo Village in 1893



People looking at midget village







Sources:

Creation Research

West Land 

Columbus 

Chronciling America at the Library of Congress 

Buy Books on the Web

NPR







Faces of America

 In class we watched the documentary, "Faces of America." In this I learned a lot about famous people's pasts. Not only did I learn that but I discovered that we are built as a "nation of immigrants." I thought it was very interesting that you could be a different color but come from a background. For example, the narrator was African American but he came from Irish descent. Another interesting fact, was the work and discrimination the immigrants had to face. Their journeys were far from easy. They started a new life in America for many different reasons, most just looking for new opportunities. 

   To me being a "nation of immigrants" means that we have a diverse culture with interesting backgrounds. I couldn't imagine how hard it would be for people to drop everything they had to move to America. These immigrants had to learn a whole new culture and become new people.  Their future generation wouldn't be the same if it wasn't for them. These traits have shaped America because we have brought not only different cultures but respect for other cultures and what they had to do to reach the United States. I feel close to my ancestors in different ways. Some family traditions revolve around the past. My family always has the best spaghetti because my great grandparents were Italian. I don't necessarily feel like they have shaped the way I am living today but I know that is the case for many. 

Andrew Carnegie

  Andrew Caregie had truly an amazing story. He grew up in a very poor family in Scotland. "I began to learn what poverty meant it was a burn into my heart that my father had to beg for work." Carnigie wrote. This was not how he wanted to live his life. His mother was scared of their poverty and borrowed 20 lbs so they could travel to America. When they first arrived Andrew was a bobbin boy but would take whatever job he could get. Eventually people started realizing how hard of a worker he was. Soon Carnigie worked on replacing a wood bridge into a steel bridge and earned more money than he could have imagined. After that his career really took off. He worked with Bessemer on converting iron to steel. In 1873 he invested in devolpment of the 1st steel mill in America. By 1900, Carnigie steel produced more metal than Great Britain.
  Andrew Carnigie's story was inspiring. After he lived such a hard life and watch his father struggle. He knew he could do something better. I thought it was amazing how hard he worked on what he did, not even dreaming he could get that much money. He didn't follow his fathers career but went on a path of his own. Most all sources say he went from "rags to riches", but I agree with this completley.


Andrew Carnigie

Sources PBS 1
New World Encyclopedia
PBS 2

Indian Boarding Schools

  Assimilation was a major topic after the Indian Wars. The whites wanted to make the Indians become more like white civilized people. The government thought of one way to make the Indians children assimilated at a young age, boarding schools. Most Indians thought of this idea as a time of abuse and lost culture. These schools did have an effect on the young Indians but most of the time the effect was not lasting.
  During the Civil War "day schools" were created. The goal of these schools were for the children to educate their parents into the "correct" white culture. But just the opposite happened, the parents obliterated and ended up teaching their children about their tribes. Finding out that these did not work, in mid 1870s boarding schools were officially created. Army officer, Richard Pratt formed schools based off an education program.
    There were over 100 schools on and off reservations. The armed police targeted Native Americans that were most recently hostile. Because of all racism public schools were not an option for Indians. They were  run by a  religious organization with government funds. One man that was taken to the boarding school,  looked back into his past and remembered the memories. "It was hurting her too, it was hurting me to see that. I will never forget. All mothers were crying." At such a young age Westermen had the idea that his mom just didn't want him, but once he saw her crying he left South Dakota upset just to come back a changed person. The idea set was to "erase and replace."
  "Kill the Indian save the man" was also a frequent saying people would hear around this time. It created a major transformation on culture. Many Indians have strong, sad  memories of  arriving at the school receiving a bottle of kerosene  Before they could do anything about it, their hair was shaved off. An Indians hair was a symbol of their pride and they felt like it was all being taken away. Once when a young Indian, with his new name Billy, came home his grandma greeted him with his traditional name. After Billy disagreed his grandma replied with the simple comment, "Then who are you?" The Indians were taught to hate who they were and were forced to believe the benefits of living in the White American culture. Many tried to runaway,but in the end most were caught and abused for trying to escape. In one scenario a child had to go to the hospital but the reason being that the child "ran into a wall" no questions asked.
  In my opinion the children had every right to try to run away. The living conditions were not equal to what someone living a normal lifestyle lives. Even though the Indians were fascinated by running water and electricity, the rest was not up to par. Most schools had the same architecture, landscape and regimen. They all slept on the floor or airbeds and would frequently get sick because they were living in such close quarters. They were not treated how they should have been.
  Their lifestyle was similar to the lifestyle at a military camp. They had  bell wake them up every morning around 5:45 am. The Indians would have to march everywhere they went and speak only English. They didn't even learn grammar and math. The girls were taught household chores and most of the boys were taught carpentry.  Even in  the 1960s teachers still saw their goal as civilizing American Indian students, not educating them. One child at the boarding school, Lucy Toledo, remembers some of the activities. "Saturday night is movie night...we watched Cowboys and Indians. Here were getting all out people killed and thats the kind of stuff they showed us."

This is a group of Indian boys on their arrival to the new boarding school

Indians children learning a song

This shows the Indians doing their everyday work

   Overall, I thought that the idea of the boarding schools was good, but it was not executed very well. In a decent amount of cases the students would rebel and go back to their tribes and become leaders. They didn't treat the students fair and failed to make them feel welcome. I think that if they succeeded in doing this, they would really enjoy what they were experiencing and want to learn more about becoming an American. Eventually these attempts to assimilate failed. People finally stopped caring and didn't give the government any support. As soon as the stories weren't as shocking the people lost interest.

Sources:
NPR
Washtington Lib
PBS