Ota Benga

A member of the Mbuti people, Ota Benga’s family was killed by Belgians in the Congo Free State and he was captured by indigenous slave traders shortly thereafter. He was purchased by an American businessman, Samuel Phillips Verner, and subsequently helped Verner recruit other Africans to be displayed in the “human zoos” of the 1904 St. Louis World Fair. While there, Ota Benga competed in the “anthropological days” shot put event for Africans at the affiliated Olympic Games and placed last among the eight participants.

Ota Benga returned to the Congo briefly after the Fair, but ultimately came back to the United States. He had a brief stay at the American Museum of Natural History, before being given a job at the Bronx Zoo. When visitors expressed interest at seeing Ota Benga, he was placed in an exhibition to entertain them, albeit without pay, through 1906. After struggling for several years, he eventually learned enough English to work at a tobacco factory and save money to return to Africa. After World War I broke out, however, and passenger travel to Africa became an impossibility, Ota Benga grew depressed and, on 20 March 1916, he shot himself in the heart. Since 1992, numerous fiction and non-fiction works have been made about his life.