Two years later the 103pound and a 4foot 11inch was displayed in the bronx zoo monkey house with an orangutan. This bigot as to make it is my pleasure to introduce the speaker professor of journalism and director of graduate studies at the journalism institute. Shes also the author of black journalists like media thats won the award for media criticism and is the editor of letters to america in the africanamerican experience. Many articles have been published in the New York Times, washington post, nation and the journalism. Prior to joining nyu, she worked at for news organizations including new york newsday. We are so happy to have her this evening so please help me welcome pamela. [applause] good evening everyone. Its such a pleasure to be here tonight particularly to be here in this beautiful building where i done so ive done so much of my research on the section so thank you all for being here. Black lives matter is the century old continent and the plea. Its where benjamin conveys to Thomas Jefferson in 1791 when he counseled it is the indispensable duty of those that maintain for themselves the rights of human nature to extend their power and influence to every part of the human race. Its the lens of links didnt use. Its an assertion of questions. Its what inspires made research into the story of a young male who in 96 made headlines after he was exhibited in a box zoo monkey house as an arena thing. But why the story of a disgraced african who had no records or in a remarkable feat. A biography . When i began my research five years ago i could not know some would see his life as a metaphor for black lives today that i knew his story mattered how he aimed to be so monumentally degraded in a worldclass city at the dawn of the 20th century during the progressive era so i began to explore this case by interrogating that have already been written. I began with a book published in 92 that had become the account. It was written by Philip Bradford the grandson of the african explorer that brought him to the United States. According to the introduction the book was the story of friendship. From the first few pages i was intrigued by the notion that he forged a friendship with his african subject that i somehow ended up in a zoo being displayed with its. The colorful narrative was akin to the tail of Robertson Crusoe that had no citations and was almost entirely based on the account. The book nonetheless went into the lives and history. I turned to the Conservation Society better known as the bronx zoo to see how it had recorded the exhibition. It explores the history beginning in the creation in 1899 and the former curator publication contended that it was unlikely that he had ever been caged and displayed at all. Was he exhibited like a strange animal he asked and that he was locked behind to be stared at during certain hours seems unlikely ignoring evidence in the archives in the dalia exhibition in the cage at specific times of the day. Then in the effort to clarify what had transpired he entered the cage to play with a chimpanzee that accompanied him from africa and the label of information. He concluded that this distance in time thats about all that can be said for sure except that it was done with the best of intentions but he was interested in the new york public that havent been privileged. I learned his objection identified and a faithful reading of the archival records. The published article in the society this was just one of many examples of deception i discovered by the trusted custodian of history. And while the archival records that exposed key aspects in the circumstances of the capture and captivity have largely gone untouched. Revisiting the historical case gives a look at the history and raises troubling questions about what we know and what we think we know about our past. While he didnt leave behind his own papers, others did. Mountains of archival records letters the autobiographical account, newspaper magazine articles field notes, since this data, recorded recollections in the area enabled me to retrace footsteps from the congo and across the United States and what i discovered exceeded my worst suspicions about his relationship. In the process i was able to see ever more clearly how the Racial Attitudes of new york citys social elite were embedded in scholarships government policy and Popular Culture and why some of those added but first a little bit about burner. He was the first child a slaveholding family in South Carolina who came of age during the backlash in the reconstruction and about a a valid white supremacist he went to the congo first as a missionary than as a man determined to make his fortune in a country that was being plunged. As many were beating and sleeved, murdered or maimed under the civilized he left his missionary post and focused his efforts on capitalized on the turmoil. In 1904 he returned as a special agent for the st. Louis worlds fair. His assignment was to bring back to the exhibit at the fair. Fair organizers hoped to match the progress from the lowest the highest civilizations but the diminutive people of the first being the least civilized. Heavily armed and with an approval of u. S. Government officials, he went hunting. He was the first of the captives of who he wrote an article entitled by untold adventures in the congo. In lectures and articles they promoted through chemicals. Two years later they temporarily turned them over to the bronx zoo. He shared a cage with apes as a headline in the New York Times on september 9 1906. Tens of thousands of new yorkers flocked to see benga. Ministers protested they refused to meet with ministers were intervened. The societys secretary Madison Grant also held firm and the director of the blessings of the elites. Said the exhibit will go on each afternoon in september. He insisted he had the best room in the monkey house. New york times editors were dismayed by the protest. They wrote we do not understand all of the emotion that others are expressing in the matter. It is a normal step in the race or tribe whether they are held to be of the stations of arrested development and closer than the other savages or whether the abuse to be descendents of ordinary negros they are of equal interest and can be studied with profit. Its to the officials that it was too much to handle. It was at the orphanage here. They recounted the stay to lynchburg virginia in the orphanage farm in long island where he lived a woman licensing the chains. In 1910 he returned to lynchburg where he worked on a farm and did odd jobs and he also became a beloved companion to whom he taught the ways. And in lynchburg was embraced by the community that included and Spencer Spencer that would want to become an acclaimed renaissance poet and have actually been bengas teacher at the seminary and while trying to adjust to american life. So hed wanted with the group of boys and clicking the sun. In lynchburg they found at the home and would learn their customs and the contours and boundaries. When he crossed into the workingclass community he was faulted with rocks and would come back and ask why they did that. And yet drew them to her bosom. Some have lost loved ones to slavery, some for the children of their enslavers yet they had made room for homeless stranger. There were only memories and no one but he could know the form they took. Whether whether trouble by nightmares or being caged hounded by visions of murdered loved ones were starving tortured. Did he dreamily drift into joyful gatherings of plans only to awaken alone. Some nights some nights beneath the starspangled sky the boy too much on see gregory will of were enraptured as he spoke to the flames. No older than 10 ten too young to grasp the poignancy of the ancient ritual or the urgency. And i will end there and take your questions. Thank you. [applauding] does no one have questions . You have all read the book . Clicks clicks he took his life i should have said his age is contested. The offer many different. He offered many different accounts of how he was captured whatever the word is. But the best evidence available if anyone has a copy of the book if you look at that picture was taken two years before he was exhibited. Exhibited. He is clearly a child. And later in his life he said that he was 13 when he was captured which would mean that when he was in the bronx zoo he would have been 15 and when he died he wouldve been 25. Good evening. I want to to thank you so much for shining a light on this young man. Also, clicks i hope so. Clicks my second question for what was life like for him . Well, there was a lot less developed better. He was given his own room where he could smoke. He could do pretty much what he wanted. Wanted. Of course he was still isolated from the children. He could not have real Human Interaction with people still alienated from his country and people in the limited limited english. He spoke maybe a hundred words. So so he wanted to go home. That is what he wanted. It seemed that they were very nice to him there. Describe every account i had ever read very maternal warm and loving. She was really was really beloved by the children long after they left. They they would still refer to her as mother. I dont know if you address it in your book but want there other examples of this . Ethic exhibits . I think that the difference between who was very popular in europe they were people exhibited. Exhibited as exhibited as an orangutan and a monkey house. So take up to addicted to decide. I. Somebody else . And i want to know what was life like psychology in the days . Well, the thing about for some reason i never liked. And that particularly when i went. You look at monkeys and apes there seems to be some recognition. They are looking at you like what are you doing. You know . I felt uneasy i felt uneasy when i made eye contact because they are so intelligent. So,. So if you think about our ability to go and look at caged animals were highly intelligent highly intelligent, highly intelligent, locally due to them. If people admit to make the same thing. I dont think that they are looking at it as human beings. They are looking at someone subhuman. Why else would he be in a cage in a monkey house . Clicks it evening. Good evening. I want to thank you for doing this. The story resonated with me because it makes me wonder to my go to church. Every time there is a crowd lined up taking photos as of five people are exhibits. I wonder in your research of using anything that proves or shows this fascination with i guess you would say by people or maybe in this case in terms of primitive people you know, being seen as objects all. Being objectified. Well, once you discard in and diminish from humanity and objective five then you can make an spectacle. A spectacle. You cannot really do it unless youre crazy to a person, someone you recognizes human being. These ideas are not just the ideas of marginalized crackpots. This was rooted in science, the blacks were a degenerate race, that they were closer to apes and other human beings. For so long that idea has permeated in the highest echelons of the academy. And it and it should be no surprise that a hundred years later i hope you would not see a black person exhibited in the zoo but there are some of those subconscious policies that may explain this rash of Police Killings of unarmed black boys and men who get shot in the back of people being riddled with bullets will a sit they sit in their cars. I dont think its a tragic thing. But but when you add those kind of ideas so deeply embedded in everything that america is a really shouldnt surprise us that some of those ideas are lingering and have morphed to take on new forms. A great portion of it. Clicks reynolds. Tell me a little bit about some of the chapters of your research . The challenges psychologically. And in research itself. The research was quite challenging, as you can well imagine. Doing research on marginalized people will test your child as a researcher. Ive had some experience because my last book was all about going into the archives and looking for letters that many hidden people think existed. People existed. People from all walks of life for letters. So because our lives were not considered meaningful it is harder to find evidence. So yes. Going into the archives i could not go to an archive i would hold the papers about a a banker. Right. You know so you have to look in unexpected places. You have to just look harder and go to the people. You have to go wherever you think there may be something the interesting thing about this project so hard the first two years and that one time i thought i may have to give some money back. Im not going to be able to do this. Things just arent tumbling out. Its out. Its like when you look so long you had something. Then it just started unfolding. Look here. You know. I was having these like incredible times. I cannot even imagine that i would be able to literally do this on an almost daily basis. 1904, 1905. I could never have anticipated the kind of detail that i was able to get of his life and that is because the elite people of new york Society People of new york society and did not feel the need to hide anything. Who was going to look for the life of out of anger . They did not see it coming. Clicks it evening. Using. Appreciate you taking the time out of your life. Yeah. And this is not one question, it question it is a bunch of things. Understanding the climate of the nation and the climate of the world and how the peoples of this world somehow end up oppressed understand that me being and compiling that together and reading this book what should it do for me . Is my be enough sleep question i would like to articulate that. I think i think what it might do for you, first of all substantiate suspicions that many of us had that this stuff is not just happenstance. It is deeply, deeply deeply rooted. Deeply rooted. So much of the scholarships is not out there circulating so you see a lot of things within your being told. Barack obama. You are paranoid. He has shot in the leg 20 times you are doing something. So and on and on. I say maybe you cannot draw a straight line. It helps inform where we are today. It it shows us the foundation of many of the ideas that are still percolating today. What you should do for you you know, humanity is a tricky thing. You know when humanity this diminished the people who diminish humanity or diminish more. Think how humanity we have to feel good about humanity i think that quote tom to go channeling Thomas Jefferson you know this is your humanity. Come on people. So i dont know. It is not really connecting dots to today. Do something that would help connect the dots. Clicks the first commonality the turn of the last century. Clicks there have still been instances. Right. I go to kenya. The largest one. Literally sitting on the bus that is where someone lives. There is still this humans is thing. Still marketed. What can we do to change it more like they live like that and live like that. I wonder if you have any thoughts. On the people look for different reasons. Some people do things. Some people dont. You know, i just think think when youre in touch with your humanity it is just a good thing. It is just a good thing. Back to what you are asking for one of the things that i found inspiring stepped out of the box. I found that incredibly inspiring. The first minister the protest was not a black minister has some said. Said. He was a baptist canadian minister. A very prominent man very imminent advisor to the president. And so we can do great things when youre in touch with you humanity. I was wondering whether when you are doing your research you are able to speak the book he wrote about his grandmothers love. Quick start i want to. He never met out of and had nothing to offer. I was interested in archival evidence. The grandfathers papers. They did not deal with evidence. I dont care i dont care why he did or didnt. This is a historical project. I went back to where i could find a lot of people have opinions about what happened. This or that. They didnt know. I basically went back to the archives. Am just curious if you ever came across the zoo administrators . Did he ever express remorse . No. No. No. It is kind of disappointing. There was no remorse. What they did do is tell people what happened. Went from being the case to exhibit to being a zoo employee. So but no, never an expression of remorse. On the contrary, Samuel Warner had later in life you have many years after this. He did express remorse. Or or so i heard. I should take that. They said he expressed remorse. Let me be clear. Clicks good evening. By selling to school in new york City Technical knowledge. Congratulations clicks thank you. I was a dental Lab Technician student. We used a variety of equipment. The korean student and i noticed that whenever he would use a a piece of equipment he would not use behind the peer review would actually wait for someone else to use it and then use it. So when they have sitting at my desk at my station come as we call it. So i said to him see why do you always wait for someone else to use equipment after that he used it. He says, i dont dont want to use it. I said why not . You are an animal. I supported you say . Now, 17 or 18 from church avenue, brooklyn. My initial thought was something different. I different. I did not have the maturity that i now. I said, we talking about . A couple. I said hold on. He said well you have a tale right i said what did you just . Literally, what did literally, what did you just say . You have a tale dont you . And i said no i dont have a tale. He he says sure you do. I sought in the books. I said how long you been this country back six years. So now no longer funny. Were talking to him. He says forward you get this . He wrote those books and said how his parents taught in this before he came here to stay clear. As i looked for watch cnn and see the disconnect. It is not that hard to see. It makes sense. If this is what you are taught and this is what you think its easier to do something. I have two sons. I i try to teach them this without fear but would knowledge. To talk about a minute ago. What you do. I would say one morning 430 in the morning i woke up and said i have not seen him since he graduated in 1986. He came back. I said, thats the problem. Its actually documented somewhere and being taught. Makes it easier. Clicks it clicks it was taught for a very long time. I used to live in england i was sitting at the bus stop. A lady saw me and was black. She was in england and said to me where you from and i told her. She said, what do you do . I said to my midwife. She said zero, im so glad. When i came here there were not a lot of black people. Shes so glad more black people are coming here. Being born in the hospital. They can see that we dont have any details. They thought this was in 1962. They thought that when we were born, black people our tails were moved. She was so happy. Im so glad youre here. Clicks did not have a tale. Good evening. Just a couple questions. Where was he buried . Did his remains ever get sent back . Clicks you guys are asking the questions. He was buried. He had a proper funeral because he was a beloved member of that community. He had a nice ceremony. Today they are not quite sure if his remains are still there because it was so overgrown. He was reinterred and taken to another cemetery. Have become popular with the community. Community. They have actually had searches in lynchburg. If you go to lynchburg everyone knows who he is. Today he is still just an adored figure and Everyone Wants to know where he is. I dont know. If there is even a clue people are prepared to pay them. To the dna test. Anyway, hes buried somewhere. Clicks just one other thing. Ever reach out to ask her his remains . Clicks you mean today there have been efforts by some to reclaim his remains. Yeah. Clicks thank you very much. I came out tonight because of a raw interest. Its hard hard not to make those linear ties. Dot past. I say that because our president many times has used to caricature is monday and so has his wife. And so has his wife. An wife. An imagery have been burdened with. That is pretty linear. One thing i have to say just this past weekend i purchased the book four years ago paul the sanctuary its literally a picture book. And and most were right. Clicks it was horrible. And you hear a lot about it. It. There has been very little written about what was happening which is why i was so interested. I knew that history of the lynching throughout the south but did not know what was going on here. I knew about around the civil war when all those were beaten and killed. When i opened this book for a hundred pages and i said i havent opened it in four years because it is hard to look at but i appreciate what hes done because it tells a story of justice and peace. So i appreciate that. Cynic that was an important part of the condition was to talk the story. So many other people were telling the story. One more question here in the back. You made mention of the New York Times as some of the articles and i was curious about their opinions regarding the stories and articles. It was covered nationally. It was covered by practically every paper across the country the washington post, the postdispatch. Anywhere you would have known about benga. They did write about it, not much, but they did. Thank you so much for coming in tonight. Its great to hear the answers to the questions. I heard some things that spoke to me. Was there anything you were hoping they would pick up on a conversation in the conversation and white people gather in to talk about race . I guess they dont do i dont do my work like that sitting around worrying about what white people should know. I think of all people. I dont work that way thinking of this audience or that. I am a truth junkie into some of it is uncomfortable even for us. I am about humanity and if we can all get closer to that, that would be a good thing. If any of the evidence spoke to the study he was taking a lot of the academic courses for school transitionary and had gone back and started missionaries in africa but we can see the classes he took. That would have been great. He mentioned earlier its still going on. Where is the practice is still going on and sputnik i dont do the research for the articles [inaudible] the last two that i saw one was in germany and one was in spain. At any point did they ever have to pay in punitive damages . [inaudible] i wish i had insight into my next project. It will be complete a little bit more. People say where do you go . When im doing research i kind of disappear and im happy to reemerge. Thats the immediate project. Thank you so much. [applause]
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