Spectacle Ota Benga Summary

Spectacle: The Astonishing Life of Ota Benga, a biography, by Pamela Newkirk writes of the story of Ota Benga, a Native African male who was displayed in a cage at the Bronx Zoo during the early 1900s. He was initially purchased by a white missionary, Samuel Phillips Verner, from his home in the Congo during the brutal reign of King Leopold II. Once in the Americas, he was put in various shelters with unhygienic environments to live in, such as an orangutan cage in the Bronx Zoo where feces, urine, and musk were present. The horrible atrocities committed towards Benga is inexcusable and still has not been taken responsibility for. Present day Bronx Zoo should admit to their wrongdoings and commemorate Benga because they caused a significant

negative impact on his life and wrongly represented him during his time in the zoo.

The Bronx Zoo should confess the actions that induced post-traumatic stress disorder on Ota Benga later in his life because they violated many of his human rights and treated him as an inferior species.

He was placed with the Bronx Zoo and soon was put on exhibit in the monkey house. During Benga’s time on display in the zoo, spectators looked down on him as an inferior being and was denied his basic needs:

One researcher, J. P. Grump, found that the most profound shame results from the destruction of your subjectivity when ‘what you need, what you desire, and what you feel are of complete and utter insignificance.

That would certainly apply to Benga as he endured the gawking of spectators utterly indifferent to his feelings. They howled. Gasped. Gaped. Pointed. Jeered.

Benga frequently walked to the door with eyes pleading for his keepers to release him from public view. (Newkirk 12)

Benga endured constant daily harassment from the public. Although he could not understand the English language, he was able to comprehend the intent of their commentary. This, as to any person, likely caused Benga “profound shame.” Additionally, his pleas to be removed from the public’s eye were denied as well as his privacy and freedom. This treatment was undeniably inhumane and, considerably, a human rights violation. Abuse, such as this, is viable of leaving a lasting impact on Benga, hence, making the Bronx Zoo obligated to confess their

malefactions.

Additionally, the Bronx Zoo should memorialize Benga because when they had him on display they continuously represented him under false pretenses. When Verner released Benga into the zoo’s custody, he made the agreement for him to be allowed to roam the premises as he pleases. Not long after, he was allocated to the Monkey House, meanwhile, this following sign was displayed:

THE AFRICAN PYGMY, OTA BENGA.

Age, 23 years. Height, 4 feet 11 inches.

Weight 103. Brought from the Kasai River,

Congo Free State, South Central Africa,

By Dr. Samuel P. Verner.

Exhibited each afternoon during September. (Newkirk 25)

Benga was displayed in the Monkey House as an exhibit. Dressed and equipped with a bow and arrow, he was steered into putting on a show with the orangutan; Benga was wrongfully used as profit for the zoo’s benefit. The original intention of his inhabitancy was not to be displayed as a zoological exhibit, yet he was deliberately abused in what was considered as his temporary home. Due to the misuse of Benga’s captivity, the Bronx Zoo must replicate the previous sign, but, instead, with words of commemoration for the African man.

The biography, Spectacle: The Astonishing Life of Ota Benga, tells the story of a man who was ill-treated for his skin color and place of origin. Ota Benga was inhumanly displayed in the Bronx Zoo. Many people protested during the showing and would today, also, be deemed unacceptable. In response to the horrible rights violations of the past century, the Bronx Zoo should concede to being the cause of Ota Benga's PTSD and suicidal death as well as memorialize him to show genuine sorrow for his treatment.