@wayblackwhen: The Bronx Zoo Caged Ota Benga With Apes in 1906 40,000 people a day came to see a man in a cage. The Times defended it. In September 1906, the Bronx Zoo displayed a man named Ota Benga in a cage inside its Primate House, beside an orangutan named Dohong. His wife and children had been killed by King Leopold II's private militia before he was captured, sold into slavery, and later bought by an American collector for a pound of salt and a bolt of cloth. Up to 40,000 people a day came to see him on display. The New York Times, the paper that broke the story, then defended the exhibit in print, calling him a normal specimen of his race. Black ministers led by Reverend James Gordon forced his release twenty days later. He built a quiet life in Lynchburg, Virginia, learning English and working in a tobacco factory, until World War One closed the ships and ended his only path home. The zoo did not apologize for 114 years. Follow WayBlackWhen for more buried history they never taught you. #BlackHistory #fyp #Melanin #blackexcellence #blackpride

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Sunday 16 August 2026 14:19:10 GMT