Ota Benga at the Bronx Zoo

The 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis featured among other attractions a group of pygmies who had been brought in from the Belgian Congo. One of the pygmies was Ota Benga, who, after the exhibit was over, was sent to the Bronx Zoo. The director of the zoo, William T. Hornaday, believed he understood the thoughts of zoo animals. He believed Ota Benga was no different from any other animal in the zoo, and insisted he was only showing an interesting exhibit. Crowds came to the monkey house exhibit, which opened in 1906, to see man's "evolutionary ancestors," which included monkeys, chimpanzees, a gorilla named Dinah, an orangutan named Dohung and the pygmy Ota Benga. Controversy swirled around the extremely popular exhibit, as religious figures objected to the theme of evolution, and the black community was outraged at the treatment of Benga. As a legal compromise, Ota Benga was allowed to leave his cage and walk around the zoo in a white suit; but he returned to the monkey house at night.