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Ota Benga is Born
Ota Benga, as shown here, was born in the Congo in 1883 but the exact locaiton or date is still unkown -
Education Segregation in the South
"Florida – Education [Statute]
Penal offense for any persons to conduct any school, any grade, either public or private where whites and blacks are instructed or boarded in the same building" "Georgia – Education [State Code]
Black and white children not allowed to attend the same school." "South Carolina – Education [Constitution]
No children of either race “shall ever be permitted to attend a school provided for children of the other race.”
-Occidental Dissent -
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Lynchings
"An average of 101 negroes are lynched per year." - Occidental Dissent -
Samuel Verner Arrives in the Congo
"Mr. Verner was invited by the Louisiana Purchase Exposition to return to the Congo Free State and bring a pygmy group to Saint Louis." - Proceedings of the Davenport Academy of Sciences, Volumes 12-13, Davenport Academy of Sciences [1907] "...Samuel Verner, who arrived in the Congo in 1896." - Middle Passages: African American Journeys to Africa, 1787-2005, James T. Campbell [2007] -
Acquisition of Hawaii
"Acquistion of Hawaii, Wake Island, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines." - Occidental Dissent -
Period: to
American - Filipino War
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Ota Benga's Wife and Children Killed
"The wife and two children of Ota Benga, an African Pygmy living in the Kasai River region of the Congo, are killed in a raid on their camp by the territorial police force." - Encyclopedia Virginia: Ota Benga, Ted Delaney [2010] -
Period: to
Travels
Ota Benga and Samuel Verner tavel throughout Africa and back to the United States multiple times during this period. -
Samuel Verner Encounters Ota Benga
Samuel Verner with a couple pygmy children. "Samuel P. Verner, a Presbyterian missionary, discovers Ota Benga for sale in a village slave market in the Congo. He purchases Benga's freedom for a pound of salt and a bolt of cloth." - Encyclopedia Virginia: Ota Benga, Ted Delaney [2010] -
Start of St. Louis World Fair
"On April 30, 1904, Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company President David R. Francis officially opened the Louisiana Purchase Exposition—also known as the 1904 World’s Fair..." - Missouri Historical Society [1997-2004] During this fair Ota Benga was put on display in the Anthropology exhibit for all to see -
End of St. Louis World Fair
Festival Hall in St. Louis during the 1904 World's Fair "By the time the Fair closed on December 1, 1904, an estimated 20 million people had reveled in the wonders of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition." - Missouri Historical Society [1997-2004] The end of the fair marked the end of the display of Ota Benga and his humiliation -
Ota Benga is Transferred to the Bronx Zoo
Here is an image of a cage in the Bronx Zoo in 1895 that closely resembles the conditions that Ota Benga endured "In late August or early September 1906, Verner found a temporary home for Benga at the New York Zoological Park, also known as the Bronx Zoo, in New York City. Benga was lodged in the Primate House..." - Encyclopedia Virginia: Ota Benga, Ted Delaney [2010] -
Church Protests for Benga's Release
"All the same, a storm over the exhibition was preparing last night. News of what the managers of the Zoological Park were permitting reached the Rev. Dr. R. S. MacArthur of Calvary Baptist Church last night, and he announced his intention of communicating with the negro clergymen in the city and starting an agitation to have the show stopped." - The New York Times [September 10, 1906] -
Atlanta Race Riot
"During the Atlanta race riot that occurred September 22-24, 1906, white mobs killed dozens of blacks, wounded scores of others, and inflicted considerable property damage. Local newspaper reports of alleged assaults by black males on white females were the catalyst for the riot, but a number of underlying causes lay behind the outbreak of the mob violence." - New Georgia Encyclopedia, Gregory Mixon [2005] -
Ota Benga Admitted Into a Mental Institution
A ward inside the Howard Colored Orphan Asylum "His resistance, and the mounting protests, finally resulted in Benga being released to the care of Rev. James H. Gordon, who ran the Howard Colored Orphan Asylum in Brooklyn's Weeksville section." - CNN, Pamela Newkirk [2015] -
Ota Benga Released From Zoo
"Finally, on the afternoon of Friday 28 September, 20 days after he first went on display – Benga quietly left the zoo, escorted by the man who had captured him. His departure would be as calm and contained as his debut was frenetic and flamboyant." - The Guardian, Pamela Newkirk [2015] -
Samuel Verner's Offer
The Congo around 1900, along with some of its natives "In 1907 Verner offered to take Benga with him back to the Congo, but Benga declined, having decided to make a new life on his own in America." - Encyclopedia Virginia: Ota Benga, Ted Delaney [2010] -
Ota Benga moves to Lynchburg, Virginia
Lynchburg, Virginia circa 1900 "In January 1910, at age 26, Ota Benga moved to Lynchburg to attend Virginia Theological Seminary and College, a black Baptist school located in Durmid, a suburb south of the city...The close-knit seminary community embraced Benga." - Encyclopedia Virginia: Ota Benga, Ted Delaney [2010] -
Ota Benga Commits Suicide
"His attempts at assimilation having failed, the African Pygmy Ota Benga commits suicide in Lynchburg." - Encyclopedia Virginia: Ota Benga, Ted Delaney [2010] -
Ota Benga's Funeral
Present day Diamond Hill Baptist Church "He [Ota Benga] was given a proper funeral at Diamond Hill Baptist Church and was buried in the City Cemetery." - Pamela Newkirk [2015]
