Ota Benga

Ota Benga (1883–1916) was a Congolese man from the Mbuti people who became one of the most controversial figures in anthropological history. In 1906, he was brought to the United States by Samuel Phillips Verner and was exhibited at the Bronx Zoo's Monkey House alongside apes, a racist display that drew international outrage. Standing only 4 feet 11 inches tall, Benga was presented to the public as a 'missing link' between humans and primates, reflecting the pseudo-scientific racism of the Eugenics movement that was prevalent at the time. Though some activists and clergy fought against his exploitation, Benga endured tremendous humiliation and psychological trauma. He was eventually released from the zoo but struggled to readjust to life, returning to Congo in 1910 before his death six years later under unclear circumstances. Ota Benga's tragic legacy has become a powerful indictment of early 20th-century racism and the exploitation of indigenous peoples for entertainment and pseudo-scientific validation of racial hierarchies.