Imperial Visions and Racist Views

At the end of the 19th century, America emerged as a political power on the world stage.  Europe’s colonial powers had already divided Africa and much of Asia among themselves.  America saw its turn to join the club!  The Pan-American Exposition celebrated America’s victory over Spain in the Spanish American War and its acquisition of the Philippines, our first colony.  How did colonial nations, including the United States, justify their actions and exploitation of non-Western nations?

Ethnological Villages or Human Zoos?

In 1901, shows like “Darkest Africa” were called “ethnological villages,” not “human zoos.” By appearing on the Midway, near the rides and vending areas, it was clear to fair-goers that these villages were considered entertainment and performances.  However, all of them were required by the fair’s commissioners to provide educational opportunities and some degree of authenticity in their depictions of other cultures. "Darkest Africa" refers to the entire African area on the Midway. "Darkest Africa" consisted of the African Village and the Museum. Combined these two areas were designed to showcase life in Africa.

 The African Village was one of a number of ethnological displays on the Pan-Am’s Midway. All of these displays supported some views that were common then about racial or national superiority, but also provided opportunities to learn.  Other ethnological villages on the Midway displayed folk traditions from Germany, Mexico, Japan, the Near East, North Africa, Italy, and the Philippines.  Native Americans performed at the Indian Congress and in the Eskimo Village. Off the Midway was a separate community representing New York’s Native American Iroquois League .

Ethnological Villages Were Nothing New at the Pan-Am.

Ethnological displays were essential parts of World’s Fairs from 1856 onward.  The first documented African Village was set up in Chicago in 1893 at the World's Columbian Exposition.  It was organized by Xavier Péne, the same man who set up “Darkest Africa” at the Pan-Am.  African Villages were standard fixtures of World’s Fairs into the 1930s, but then disappeared as changing perceptions and the arrival of television made Africa seem less exotic.

Ethnological Villages Still Entertain Millions Each Year. 

Performances and displays of different cultures’ customs and traditions are still found in modern World’s Fairs.  Epcot Center, in Florida, is a modern descendent of the Midway villages.  There, a series of pavilions provides visitors with opportunities to watch the traditional dances of different cultures, taste their foods, hear their music, see artifacts representing their heritage, get a simplified view of their societies, and meet people wearing traditional costumes.  Rides and souvenir shops compete for visitors’ dollars.  Like the Midway’s villages, each of Epcot’s pavilions is staffed by people who come willingly from those countries to live and work in those “villages.”  All of these features also describe “Darkest Africa.” 

Was the African Village a Human Zoo?

Human Zoo suggests that the people inside it were brought against their will, like animals, to be displayed in degrading and exploitative ways, with the terms of their performances decided by others.  It suggests that the people living in these “human zoos” were caged and captive, unable to make decisions for themselves, there at the will of their “captors,” unable to communicate their conditions, and unable to escape.

Research indicates that the African people in “Darkest Africa” came to the Pan-Am knowing generally what to expect.  They were paid to live and perform there.  Several members of the group had appeared previously in World’s Fairs at Chicago (1893) and San Francisco (1894).  One of these African men, John Tevi, recruited the Dahomeyan performers for “Darkest Africa” and was one of two African “chiefs” in charge of the village.  His story suggests that the Africans in “Darkest Africa” joined the troupe to see the world, make money, have an adventure, gain experience, and improve their lives. 

This suggests that the Africans of “Darkest Africa” were actively involved in creating their own world and were using the Pan-Am for their own interests.  If this is accurate, it requires us to think very differently about “Darkest Africa” and to reconsider whether viewing it as a “human zoo” reduces our ability to understand the creativity and humanity of its performers, organizers, and residents.

Men in the African Village

The African men in this photo wear a combination of Western and traditional African clothing. Some Americans mocked the Africans in 1901 for putting on Western clothes, assuming falsely that it implied the Africans were not authentically African. However, mixing styles was also common in Africa in 1901, where Western clothing could be a symbol of wealth or rank. Western tailored clothing may also have been warmer in the cold weather. 

Photograph by Carlos E. Cummings, Collections of the Buffalo Museum of Science

Preconceptions and Perspectives in 1901

One hundred years ago, few Americans or Europeans had ways to meet people from distant parts of the world or to learn directly from them.  Most of what they learned about Africa’s people and cultures came from missionaries’ accounts, colonial government reports, and sensationalized fiction that stressed danger, emphasized differences, and perpetuated stereotypes.

At the start of the 20th century, colonial administrators, entrepreneurs, and missionaries were among the only Europeans who had sustained contact with African people.  The average American, white or black, had few opportunities for first-hand contact with African people or African cultural traditions.  The biases and agendas of experts influenced Americans' understanding of other cultures.

American Visitors’ Views

African Villages at World’s Fairs and other performances gave Americans otherwise impossible opportunities to meet Africans face-to-face.  Some people learned from these experiences that similarities among people were more important than differences.  Some people saw only differences, reinforcing their prejudices and stereotypes.  Others used these events as chances to learn new things, to change the ideas they had held, or to commit themselves to changing the world.

Man throwing ivory horn with Victorian gentleman watching. Daily performances in the African Village attracted most of the public’s attention.  The terms of Péne’s concession allowed him to charge 10¢ for seats in the open air exhibition platform and 25¢ for admission to "Darkest Africa’s" theater.

According to the brochure, Darkest Africa: Real African Life in a Real African Village...
 

“It is the desire of the management of Darkest Africa to extend every courtesy to visitors.  The attendants will be ready at all times to answer questions and give any information they may possess relating to the village or its people. Those who wish to study the natives will be best able to do so in the morning when the exhibit is first opened."
 

Photograph by Carlos E. Cummings, Collections of the Buffalo Museum of Science

African American Views
Even in 1901, some people were concerned with the World’s Fairs’ representations of Africa and Africans. Many African American leaders, in particular, had ambivalent feelings about these visions. 

In 1893, Frederick Douglass expressed his own contradictory feelings about the “Dahomeyan Village” at the Columbian Exposition.  On the one hand, he wrote that “The Dahomians are also here [at the fair] to shame the Negro as a repulsive savage.”  On the other hand, he said that he was impressed by the Africans’ “dance and ceremonies, which were all on the same principal, if not quite so well developed, as those of people living nearer to civilization.”  Ultimately, he concluded, “We have come up out of Dahomey unto this.  Measure the Negro. But not by the standard of the splendid civilization of the Caucasian.  Bend down and measure him - measure him from the depths out of which he has risen.”

In Buffalo, the protest was less visible and statements of ambivalence more muted.  While Buffalo’s African American leaders were angered by the “Old Plantation” and wanted representation on the fair’s committees, they did not lodge a formal, written complaint against “Darkest Africa.” We have also found no statements that they approved of it.  African American leaders such as Mary B. Talbert, pressed urgently to have Booker T. Washington’s exhibit of African American achievements exhibited at the Pan-Am.  Success in having this display presented at the Pan-Am provided a more balanced picture of African Americans’ heritage, history, and future.

The Phyllis Wheatley Club of Colored Women was founded in 1899, as a vocal force within the black community. In 1901, the club focused on the placement of the Paris Negro Exhibit at the Pan American Exposition. According to an essay read by Mrs. Talbert, "...the Negro exhibit at the Paris Exposition had attracted the notice of the world, and that the exhibit should be brought to the Pan American Exposition." The Phyllis Wheatley Club was determined that the Negro Exhibit would have a place at the Pan American and this determination resulted in the placement of an exhibit in the Manufacturers and Liberal Arts Building.

 In 1901, there were only 500 African Americans living in Buffalo, then a city of 300,000.  Without occupying positions of power and privilege, could they have done any more?                                                                                                    

 
1. Introduction
3. Darkest Africa: The Village and the Museum
4. The Buffalo Museum of Science and the African Village
5. Portrayals of Africans at the Pan-Am in 1901
6. Dress in the African Village
7. Perceptions, Views, and Consequences
8. What do you think?

Sponsored by the Margaret L. Wendt Foundation.