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 

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