Ota benga: The man who caged with orangutan
Ota Benga" The name might sound wonderful as a rhythmic poem but the story of its owner is not as beautiful as his name. Ota Benga will tell you about the cruelty of the man who is being claimed great now.
Early Life
Ota Benga is a Congo pigmy man, lived in the equatorial forests near the Kasai River, known for exhibiting at the St. Louis world fair, Missouri in 1904, and at the Bronx Zoo in 1906. Ota Benga lived a life of hardship just like many other Africans at the time.
When Ota benga became a man, Ota Benga's teeth were cut off into sharp points, as a part of his tribal customs.
Like the rest of his tribe, he married at an early age. He was a loving husband to his wife and a father of two children.
One day, King Leopold II's Belgium army attacked Ota benga's people and many of them were killed including Ota benga's wife and two children.
upon returning home from hunting, Benga was captured by Slave traders who was chained and dragged out of the forest. He was bought from African slave traders by an explorer named Samuel Phillips Verner. He was a businessman who was looking for Africans for the exhibition, so Benga was taken to the United States. Ota Benga first came to the United States in 1904. After the St Louis World's Fair, Verner promised Benga to return him back to Africa. Sadly Benga had to request Werner to take him back to the United States because he was no longer had a "home" to return as during this time all members of his tribe has been massacred. Then he went to America again with Verner. While at the Bronx Zoo, Benga was allowed to walk on the field where he was shown at the zoo's monkey mansion as a half-human.
He tried to return to Africa again, but the outbreak of World War I, stopped all sea voyages. Benga fell into a depression, as his hopes of returning to congo faded. On March 20, 1916, at the age of 32, he built his tribe's ceremonial fire, cut off his hats on his teeth, and suicide himself with a borrowed pistol.
The books with Ota Benga's life story
Spectacle: the astonishing life of Ota benga
Author -Pamela Newkirk
Pages -336
A very detailed monograph of the life of Ota Benga, a young man in the Congo who suffered from the rage of being put in a cage with an orangutan/monkey at the Monkey House in the Bronx Zoo at the beginning of the twentieth century. Although haven't any written account of his experience, Newkirk produced his story from books, photographs, and other articles. Benga's experience was extraordinary, not in a "human zoo" but in one dedicated to animals, and portrays this African man as a failure of human evolution.
Ota benga book - The Pigmy in the zoo
the pygmy is an amazing and scary book about Ota Benga's life including selfish desire, racism, religious arrogance in America.
The Films with Ota Benga's life story
Human Zoos
Human Zoos is a film about Ota Benga directed by John West. This Ota Benga documentary video is an official selection at the 2017 Oregon Documentary Film Festival. Human Zoo also won the Best Editing Award in the 2017 Oregon Documentary Film Festival. The judges at the Oregon Documentary Film Festival chose the film because of John West's exploration of a darker era of U.S. history at the Human Zoo.
Ota Benga (2015) film
Ota benga (2015) is a 60 min documentary Video, Directed by Niyi Coker & produced by Jean Bodin.
This is just a summary about Ota Benga's life, human zoos, Ota Benga's films, and books
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Published by social eye
Sources -
https://www.amazon.com/Spectacle-Astonishing-Life-Ota-Benga/dp/0062201026
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