Ota Benga: Racism No Longer on Display at the Bronx Zoo

An unexpected history lesson.

Originally published on March 31st, 2021 on a previous blog.

Sometime three weeks ago, I went on a walk in the Bronx. As I do whenever I want "scenic" views, I walking alongside Fordham University (from the Fordham Road and Southern Boulevard side) and onto Bedford Park Boulevard. Although I've walked this route dozens of times throughout my near-27-years of life, my walks over the last two years have found me hyper-aware of the surroundings, as I've been looking for potential apartments to rent; businesses that've gone under or been propped up because of COVID-19; and "gems" hidden in plain sight. 

As has become customary on this route, I stopped right across the Bedford Park Presbyterian Church to marvel both at its build and Korean language signage. (The Asian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander population of the Bronx sits at a combined 5% as of census data reported in July 2019, so its presence is uncommon.) On this particular trip, however, the building across from the church also caught my attention. Although I'd been aware of the construct at the corner of Bedford Park Blvd. and Bainbridge Avenue, I'd never looked at the detailing around its roof. I took a photo of the apartment complex–partially dubbed the Bainbridge Court–and went about my day. 

At some point between March 15th and 19th, I decided to edit my image of the Bainbridge Court to then publish it on Instagram. Wanting to provide a short history lesson within my potential caption, I began researching what architecture style birthed the building's roof decoration. Landing pages related to the specific complex bore no results, so I began perusing broader Bronx-related information. Wikipedia's "Timeline of the Bronx" page was my starting point and may have indirectly given me an answer by noting that the Manhaset built in 1905 (six years before the building across the Bedford Park Presbyterian Church) followed Neo-Renaissance guidelines. However, it also made me aware of Ota Benga.

Born Mbye Otabenga circa 1883, the Mbuti man was sold by African slave traders to a businessman searching for entertainment to display at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (St. Louis World's Fair) in 1904. Known for his Congolese roots, Pygmy features and sharpened teeth, Ota Benga drew spectators from all over while in Missouri.  Following the conclusion of the St. Louis-held event, the 20-something-year-old briefly visited Africa only to reportedly return to the U.S.A. after not feeling welcomed by the Batwa. For the next decade, Ota Benga lived in New York City and Lynchburg, Va., with the former momentarily finding the Africa-native at the Bronx Zoo. 

Prior to this month, I knew Africans and African-Americans had been exhibited in zoos and traveling spectacles throughout the South, but I wasn't well-aware that they'd been displayed in the North, and in my own backyard at that. Although Ota Benga joined the Bronx Zoo to tend to animal habitats in 1906, William Hornaday, the zoo's director at the time, noticed that people were more drawn to the young Congo Pygmy than to the animals. Instead of immediately setting up an exhibit, Hornaday supposedly encouraged the young man to regularly frequent the Monkey House. Ota Benga had developed a certain fondness to Dohong, an orangutan in the Monkey House, so he didn't seem to mind Hornaday's nudge. On September 8th of that year, however, the sign outside the exhibit read: 

The African Pygmy, "Ota Benga."
Age, 23 years. Height, 4 feet 11 inches.
Weight, 103 pounds. Brought from the
Kasai River, Congo Free State, South Cen-
tral Africa, by Dr. Samuel P. Verner. Ex-
hibited each afternoon during September.

Following pressure from African-American clergymen, Hornaday shut the exhibit down, but not without hesitance. Madison Grant, Secretary of the New York Zoological Society, shared Hornaday's sentiments about the Ota Benga exhibit being valuable to spectators. Grant would go on to gain national recognition within the fields of racial anthropology and eugenics. 

After a brief stint at the Howard Colored Orphan Asylum in Brooklyn, Ota Benga moved to Virginia. Although he gained some mastery over the English language, conformed to American fashion and had his sharp teeth capped, the young Mbuti man longed to return to Africa. A plan was set in motion, but World War I halted passenger ship traffic in 1914. Hopeless, Ota Benga reportedly chipped off the caps on his teeth and shot himself with a borrowed pistol on March 20th, 1916. His body fell onto a ceremonial fire he had built just moments earlier. He was between the ages of 32 and 33.

Growing up in the Belmont neighborhood of the Bronx, I didn't learn about Ota Benga throughout elementary and middle school. Yet, class trips to the Bronx Zoo, which was never more than a 15 minute walk from these locales, were common enough and pitched as "fun getaways" from the classroom. Would my life have panned out differently had I learned about this moment in the zoo's history? I can't say, but I believe it's important for people to be aware of the past. 

Presently, the Bronx Zoo is still home to racial and socio-economic gaps. Its Yelp page has previously been full of reviews warning against visiting on "Welfare Wednesday," a moniker given to the one day the Bronx Zoo offers free (but limited) admission. As someone who's only visited on Wednesdays, I can attest that most locals head to the world's largest urban zoo on this day of the week. And understandably so: Adult (ages 13 and over) tickets are priced at $39.95 while Child (ages 3 to 12) tickets come in at $29.95. When you make any combination of visitors (an adult, two children; two adults, one child; or in my case growing up, four adults, one child) visiting the Bronx Zoo on any other day but Wednesday is a financial decision. I haven't even factored in the giraffe head-shaped souvenir cup and cafeteria food. (Best believe my immigrant mother always packed lunch for us so to not spend money at the zoo.) While inside, a quick glance around reveals a notable amount of the employee population consists of non-Whites, as is the case at various other tourist attractions across the city...

In July 2020, the Wildlife Conservation Society, operator of the Bronx Zoo, apologized for the zoo's past promotion of eugenics and treatment of Ota Benga.