Living Zoos
Human Zoos (also called "People Shows"), were an important means of bolstering popular racism by connecting it to `scientific racism:' which attempted to tie and legitimatize their views to Darwinism, creating a social Darwinism ideology which tried to ground itself in his scientific discoveries.
Before the Fair[edit | edit source]
One of the earliest-known living zoos, was that of Motecuhzoma, the ninth ruler of Tenochtitlan (Mexico), reigning from 1502 to 1520. He had a collection of animals, which included unusual human beings, such as dwarves, albinos and hunchbacks.
During the Renaissance, Cosimo de' Medici in the Republic of Florence during the late 14th century developed a large menagerie in the Vatican. In the 16th century, Cardinal Hippolytus Medici had a collection of people of different races as well as exotic animals. He is reported as having a troupe of "Barbarians," which included the Moors, Tartars, Indians, Turks and Africans.
In 1836, Joice Heth, an African American slave, was displayed by P.T. Barnum. Such exhibitions became common in the `New Imperialism' period, and remained so until the mid-1940s. Carl Hagenbeck, inventor of the modern zoos, exhibited animals beside humans who were considered as "savages."
Following the Spanish-American War which took place between April and August 1898, the United States acquired the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico, over the issues of the liberation of Cuba.
Description[edit | edit source]
At the 1904 World's Fair, the organizers brought in many tribal cultures from the Philippines and other territories in what they considered a "parade of evolutionary progress." And though many officials and the public thought that learning about other cultures could be educational, as well as enlightening (given the limited means of travel in that era), many aspects of these human zoos, were steeped in racism, self-superiority, and sideshow-ism. They were showcased and perceived as “permanent wildmen of the world, the races that had been left behind.” Visitors could inspect the "primitives" that represented the counterbalance to "Civilization."
Some of the Philippinean tribes were `invited,' to be displayed at the Fair, while others were `kidnapped,' not knowing where they were going until they arrived in America. The Philippine exhibit was massive and showcased full-size replicas of indigenous living quarters erected to exhibit the inherent backwardness of the Philippine people. The purpose was to highlight both the "civilizing" influence of American rule and the economic potential of the island chains' natural resources on the heels of the Philippine-America War.
The exhibit was under the direction of W J. McGee of the Anthropology Department of the St. Louis World's Fair. McGee's ambitions for the exhibit were to "be exhaustively scientific in his demonstration of the stages of human evolution, as well as contrasting the lowest known cultures with 'its highest culmination.' With certain tribes wearing very little, the exhibit was also extremely popular and "attracted considerable attention." See the Philippine page for for information of the attraction:
The Anthropology Days of the 1904 Olympics, held on August 11 to 12, were a "scientific experiment" wherein a variety of "savages", among them Pygmies, Filipinos, Patagonians and various American Indian tribes, competed in such undignified events as mud fighting and greased-pole climbing. The Anthropology Days were designed to test the "startling rumors and statements that were made in relation to the speed, stamina and strength of each and every particular tribe that was represented," claimed the Official Report of the Olympic Games of 1904. The Anthropology Days were seen as a near-total failure. With very little notice, the Department of Exploitation wasn't able to promote it; very few people were there to watch.
Reports from the time note that often the natives were not all that interested in the contests, although the marathon and tug-of-war seemed to capture their attention.
A turning point in both the history of the Olympics and the development of modern anthropology, these games expressed the conflict between the Old World emphasis on culture and New World emphasis on utilitarianism.
