Good afternoon everyone. We have a wonderful panel and we are in for a treat and im so happy to be here this afternoon to introduce our panel for our panelel today which will be pride and prejudice. We are the instrument of our instruments and we have to examplars today in terms of dedication to the black community. Lets start with moderator and that is the director for the research and black culture. Here at nyu public library. Hes a former associate of indiana university. His book the combination of blackens race crime and modern america published and it won best book award in american studies. Here also this afternoon is we have author and nyu professor of journalismwk dr. Pamela newkirk. A life, shes a multifaceted scholar w who has published a variety of works. Her b first book black journalist, contemporary struggles of African Americans integrating. Love letters from black american which i had a pleasure of reading, a fantastic tone that you should put in your list. Im not going to steal her thunder as she is going to talk to us about the book and all that went putting it together as part of wonderful afternoon. Please join me in welcoming the speakers this afternoon. [applause] thank you. Thank you, thank you very much. Thankthou you alan for the terrific introduction. I want tont thank our guests, dr. Pamela newkirk. Its hard to say wonderful with the subject martha shes written about. But i think a is a writer someone deeply committed to learning from the past to stories that have something to say that speak to us across generation, that makes the book amazing and one that if nothing else gets said, if any interest is you must buy it and read for yourself. Because in some ways this story is better known than some others, and i do want to talk about the context that journey is situated in and one you do brilliantly. For those of us who dont know oadabenga what happened . Thank you for facilitating the conversation about a very difficult subject. At times in American Life when we talk about this as we look forward, we also look back on like what it is that African Americans have or African People have dealt with over the centuries. Was a young person from the congo. Thats a contested term because theon word, you know at one point it negative cog it was brought in by a man named samuel to bring back to exhibit on the fairground. Thats how he came to the country. Two years later he he ended up being exhibited uragatang. Those who have known of otabenga was a fiction created by the people who exploited him. So there was always this suggestion that he was in tis exhibition as if he was a showman but the archives show that held captured and brought to this country against his wishes. He was caged in a zoo with apes against his wishes. So this is a corrective of history. E so the book opens the book opens with a very detailed texture account of the bronx zoo in early days. One of the things thats compelling in the way you present the story is not a story of h horror, its a story of triumph scientific celebration its a story new Technology Age where the United States of america is positions itself in position the european counterparts as having arrived sort of the arrival of the box itself. Talk a little bit about that context. So the bronx zoo it wasnt part of the celebration of new yorks rise that only recently the five burros had been consolidated into Greater New York right. Now we have you know going from a place request where brooklyn was a city. The bronx zoo arrives two years later. The greatest architects from around the country in the world were assembled to build these beautiful arch structures. So youre right. Suggest the position of grander with this Young African man who had been captured and was being shone as the missing link. You described the revealings, whrs its whether its the National Museum of history. These are big deal. Talk about the moment when odabenga exhibition happened. Right. William was the director of the zoo, the founding director hes also the founding director the nationalt, zoo in washington d. C. Major, major figure. He has this pigment right hes at the the good gate. He start leading people one in all to the primate house. You know, there are little animals, you know engraved on over the doorway of family of monkeys, apes. It was indeed primate house and people went in and there he was this this slight 4foot11inch boy. 110 pounds. Thees next day they covered it. Sunday thousands of people go to the zoo to see ota benga. This was a center piece in new york. Right. And by the second day he littered the cage with bones to suggest that he was a cannibal and he added arangatan. Thatha was the introduction to new yorkers and he became first a sensation in new york city and then a sensation across the country and eventually around the world. The exhibition made head license in paris and landon. Everyone where. Directors dream. I hope. [laughs] were going to talk about. This is a moment where in the language of our president the way we think about metrics and the way we think about how we measure outcomes and success yes. He is breaking records. He broke records. Oneds day alone 40,000 people went to thepl bronx zoo to see ota benga. He sat in this cage looking out like like who are you like are you crazy. Yeah. Like why. Just to give a little bit more texture what pamela has been described i wanted to read a quote from the article shes already sited. Ota benga according to our information is a normal specimen whether they are health im sorry illustrations and closer to apes and other african savages or decentants of ordinary negroes they are of interest and can be studied. This was science right. This was science. Accepted by most mainstreamed whites. Although you site a few head license from around the country. Ota p benga can talk. In minneapolis considered a liberal city, he is about as near and approach to the missing link to any human found. Those are the kinder lead head lines. Notion of new york as an imperial city. Right. Its very much no it the case. Right even Southern Newspapers mocked new york for what it was doing to black people. Yeah. Yeah. I think is t also an entry point to the fact that there was resistence. Right. So one of the people who saw ota benga the first day and expressed outraged was a minister in new york named robert macarthur. Its still there. In me telling of this story he ends up as black baptist minister but he was a canadian pastor. He went to the minister, which is where black people lived. This is outrageous. You have to go up there and see what i saw. They had an emergency meeting. From that day on they requested to meet with the mayor. Whats the problem . Like why . Hes a savage. That was the view of most of the newspaper editors at the time. While there are a lot of bad actors in this drama its important to point out the handful of people who did defy convention of the day where race was concerned. One was hurst. His paper was the only paper that called disgusting outrage. These people were in the minority. Yeah. To come back, we wont beat up on the times too much today. But there well come to that at tend of the hour. But to echo what pamela scribes the nethw the New York Times somewhat on the defensive. The quote t here they are very low in human scale and suggestion that benga should be in school, ignores possibility that school would be torture to him. The idea that men are much alike except that they had opportunities of getting education in books is now far out of date. Lets just pause on that for a moment. Lets situe with that for a moment. We live in the mist where for several years now weve had ongoing o critics of the world on drugs, massive, we have the largest imprison population, not only in thenl world but recorded history. And so the notion that a 100 years ago where scientific innovation was begin to go shake the world that we live today the most liberal could make the claim that it would be foolish for us to think that education could be the great equalizer the notion that some people ought to be in schools rather than in cages seems to echo across time and offer us much greater insight into a lot of the thinking that we are fighting today. The time is only reflecting attitude that have been enbedded in science and policy. They didnt make this up. This was the mainstream ideology of white america. That assertion of inequality this is not a moment where even the critic of ota benga encagement will usher in a moment. Right. We are onlynl in 1906 at this moment. The very idea on the basis of proving that people looked like otasc benga right. On the face of things inferior to white people. Of course while he was being exhibited in the cage, king who own it had owned the congo. He was given the congo. It is been plundered by the civilized people. Yeah. Who were killing for the purpose of profit and progress. Exactly. In the name of civilization the congo were being plundered many were tortured, slaved and killed. Ota benga one of the victims. Could you describe this caption . Yes thats ota benga. This is himhe and some of the young that were brought in the United States. They were exhibited supposedly of evidence of least civilized people on the planet. Cannibals, savages none of it is true. Hes the second one on my left. They said he was in this picture 21yearold. If you believe that i have a bridge to tell you. [laughs] clearly a child. Clearly a child. Two years later he he thats who was exhibited in the monkey house. But it turns out that there had been numerous africans brought to the unitedun states by missioners. Yeah. Could you talk about that larger practice . World fairs at this time were popular not only here but europe. It brought tense of thousands of people and the whole point of it was to allegedly map Human Progress from the lowest to highest civilization and guess who represented the highest civilization. [laughs] the people who set up the fairs. So you had an irish village native american village. With real people . Hundreds, thousands sometimes, whole villages brought to the fairgrounds babies mothers fathers, you know. Samuel when he was given a contract for hunting, which is what he said he did he wrote how iis hunted pi gmies in central africa. He went heavily armed. He had emerged as the hero and friend. Could you describe in trying to get to the truth of how ota benga i is captured, one of the myths was that he was saved from cannibals . Right. Y a myth was he gave many stories. He saved him from cannibals he saved him from life in the congo, but he saved him. Of course. And he suggest that he came withe him willingly. He brought like, cases and cases of ammunition, guns and rifles and all manner of military gear, and he even suggested in one letter that maybe hell take a cannon to make it easier to execute his mission. Why would you need that . These people were supposedly coming here voluntarily. He took a you know. So he went heavily armed. He brings them back. And all of the writeups on ota benga, they were friends. They were best host bffs. Guest yes. Host we have a closer portrait of ota benga. So Samuel Verner is their friends and that is accepted, and also the bronx zoo in the 1970s, and recounting what and also in the 1970s recounting what happened it is unlikely he had ever been exhibited at all. Helping with the monkeys, people were curious. And in their own zoological bulletin, the article on the latest exhibit. And the thing that cemented this fiction into the american imagination was his grandson wrote a book, the friendship between his grandfather, that became the definitive story. It was just expected. Gone with the wind. The history of the confederacy, the flag. It was that familiar pernicious narrative about black life. That he would subject himself to this kind of degradation and do so happily. Talk about i know in your account two stories. Guest they had what they call chipped teeth it was a conceit in the condo and a woman wouldnt even want to date you if you didnt have these pieces. And to get tattoos. Style and fashion in the condo and made it easier to pass them off as accountable. Unfortunately that is what most lead to him being the one that Samuel Bernard text to qualified. One more image of samuel berger. The juxtaposition of civility. A prominent family in South Carolina . Host sorry. South carolina, and floats to see. Guest i didnt say that. A lot of good people in South Carolina. He was not one of those people. From a former Slave Holding Family whose father was in the legislature, very prominent and his father was one of the South Carolina legislators who led the protest of reconstruction in the lives of African American enslavement and they were determined to take back their country. Where have we heard that before. They were determined to rollback all of the rights that africanamericans had obtained after emancipation and samuel burner friscos as a missionary. And to make a profit of that. It was funded by king of leopolds. Paid agents. The scale of this activity the tendency when you hear these stories compartmentalized into good and evil as worn by the face or the name of an individual and these are not part of the systems of ids. Guest that is a key point because there is a tendency in American History or revisionist history to find the one bad guy. Like that movie the help wary is like there was just one bad apple. They were nice. Just like the one. But this story, we see how systemic these ideas were that resulted in him being in this cage but the system managed to degrade most peoples host it made legitimate the notion of inferiority as a scientific fact and there were degrees of response to that. But the notion that it would be ridiculous to think that people close to guest the retelling of the story and why was important to get the record straight is hornathey emerged as the bad guy. The one bad guy put him in the zoo. Everyone elses hands were clean but this was a hole see any complicity in the degradation of ota benga. Everyone signed on to this. There were very few protests. Most people thought it was the good thing. Host can i read a quote of this . You are describing other people who have expertise. Guest one of the people who wrote the letter to the editor and turns out to be someone host you have to hear this quote. He says this is his reading of ota benga, quote, he like the white mans country where he was treated as a king, had a cozy room, a splendid room and how was full of monkeys and all the comforts and few wives. Host guest hornaday, said that ota benga had the best room in the monkey house. Host should be grateful. Guest gave him the best room. Host what happens to ota benga . Guest spoiler alert . Host i guess this is a book. Guest wants me to give you the end. But i would say he did get out of the cage because of the protest. He deserves a hand for that. [applause] guest he had much to do with getting out because in addition to the ministers who protested in new york city and then it became a national protest. Host go back to ota benga. Guest throughout the country. The biggest thing that resulted in him being released to the care of the orphanage in brooklyn was ota benga himself. He resisted captivity. When he he is like i am not going back in a cage. He did everything he could, stripped his clothes off right before the gates to the park opened. He did everything he could to resist captivity and it is clear in letters written by zoo officials, he is difficult to manage he is a savage, we cant control him. In one letter Samuel Bernard suggested giving him drugs which is what he said he did, the people, the frenzied africans but he never had to do it with ota benga but you may have to give him a tranquilizer. Host i have the quote here, hornaday complaining about ota bengas resistance, saying the boy must, quote, the go leave here immediately or be confined. Without you he is a very unruly savage. One of the things that jumped off the page for me in reading that quote is there had been a recent report, doing the story that would be out soon that looks at disparities in the use of solitary confinement for black men compared to white men and the disparity in Mental Health diagnoses, he essentially white men incarcerated are likely to be treated for Mental Health ole misses often derived from the experience of incarceration itself when black men shows similar signs of Mental Illness as a result of incarceration weather it is spread through anger or frustration or outrage the kinds of things that get you a label of unduly savage, they are put in solitary confinement. I could not help thinking about khaligf browder who killed himself after being confined unjustly for three years. Host i could not help thinking what i researched this topic five years ago i couldnt have known that there would be this black lives Matter Movement or that we would see this cycle of Police Shootings of unarmed boys and men people shot in the back, within seconds but in some ways i saw that ota benga could sort of be a metaphor for these times, metaphor for black boys and men. He was captured. He was cage. He was degraded. Much of society had very little sympathy or empathy for what he was going through and i think of mass incarceration as justin that. Societies that just looked upon in passively has generations were locked up. Often times for lowlevel drug offenses but also innocent people who just never had a fair trial or a fair never had legal representation. Serious, it is a continuation of the same kind of ideology that would result in what happened to him. Host i wanted to know whether or not teachers or educators at schools of education or others who are in a position to know how well known ota bengas story is among our nations teachers and whether or not this story is being taught in our nations classrooms. Guest the book did just come out two months ago. It came out in june when most schools are closing. I would like to know that myself but i would venture to guess that most people do not know about ota benga based on the reaction i get and even the people who think they know about ota benga, they know the other story. The revised version. Host i hope because of you and this book fair being televised that people will take this as an invitation. Seems to me if you want a different outcome in a different world opportunities like this to learn something because ota bengas story as we have emphasized already is not just a story of one young mans temptation but in its simplicity, it is the largest story of American Progress to the extent of black people in the world and that is still unfolding at this moment. We are going to open the floor to q a and as you formulate a question or you have a Quick Response that is fine. I am going to ask pamela to talk about the latest reference, and what they signify and where they fit in the hierarchy of humanity, Serena Williams. Some of you know Serena Williams won wimbledon last weekend. Some of you read the New York Times article or heard the critiques of the article about Ben Roethlisberger j k rowing describing Serena Williams has a very muscular woman in distinction to one of her opponents who said because first of all she is a woman and wants to be a woman, this is her coach but i also have the genes where i dont know what to do to get bigger because it is not going anywhere. The coach, the european tennis player saying it i dont have the capacity to be like Serena Williams. There was one tennis player who suggested she could but chose not to. Host right. Guest that was my favorite. Host maria schiarapova is quoted in the article saying i always wanted to be skinnier with less cellulite. That is every girls wish. These debates about body and ones own capacity and place in the world. Wikipedia and a number of studies of black women have healthier body image awareness and selfesteem about their body types because most black women dont want to be a stick. It is true. Host questions . Guest wondering about a story in the context wondering if you could have a conversation. Guest definitely similarities but the biggest difference is she is asking about sarah bergman, the comparison to ota benga and i think this similarity is clear that they were both degraded and exhibited. The biggest difference of course is that was 100 years earlier hot. You would think there would be something going on but more than that as horrible as it was she was not in a cage with a monkey or and are rented tank and as far know she wasntcourage and italia were in a case that the paris museum being exhibited as a sign because black women African Women are oversex with different body parts so they actually had her body parts in the museum in paris on display at the time this was going on. Thank you for the forum, very i opening and the lightning. I appreciate it. One question about ota benga and the rest of the pygmies that words there. Why did ota benga get special treatment . I think it was because of his teeth. They didnt have they were all from different places. And he appeared to be one of the youngest if not the youngest probably more malleable. I wanted to draw everyones attention to your methodology in creating this narrative. I was a little familiar with your work pam and i are friends at a tv journalist. Fulbright scholar and producer at a rise tv which i hope you are watching. I hope it is amazing. I wanted to stand up to complement pam because her methodology is nothing short of artistic. The amount of how tedious it must have been to 4 over all this data and create ota bengas sorry for us i want you to share a little of that to the audience because that is what i marvel at. It was tedious and it was difficult. When you do research on marginalized people you cant often go to a place to find their papers. Is up pretty good sight. It is a great sight. This is the first place i would go if ota benga had papers they would be there by ota benga papers and many of our distant ancestors did not have papers and because ota benga, he had no voice and so many people filled the void of his silence with these lies it made it harder not just to try to construct the narrative and find his voice but to go against these major institutions that had told these lies like who am i . I am going up against 100 years of fiction that have been accepted as scholarship and so it is a bill intimidating but fortunately there was so much evidence in the archives there were hundreds if not thousands of letters written by the people who were exploiting in telling you what they were doing. Wonderful. I dont know if the bronx zoo in new what was in those archives when they let me in but they let me in and i sat with those letters, poring over them for months, taking pictures when i could. Once they find out what i am finding a i may never see them again. The museum of Natural History they had tons of letters and because no one had ever looked at these things, many of the people contemporary scholars who carried these institutions, they are not going back 100 years that they are hearing the same stories we heard that ota benga was a friend of theirs and everything was above board but there it was, there it was, i began to find signs of ota benga just everywhere. I found him in the census in long island as a horse groomer i found him in ship passenger records, how he traveled here, i found, it is, after a while it was like he was talking to me. After two years of having a tough time and at some point wondering if i would be able to finish this, case in point i was going to visit my daughter at college and i was writing the epilogue to the book and i am writing about all of the artists inspired by ota benga today and i was writing fred wilson, macarthur fellow he had done an exhibit on ota benga. I said that the sea exactly what he did. As it turned out, he went to dartmouth, the museum, the genius of freds work is egos to institutions, goes into their closets, their warehouses, pools out things and reposition them to make a statement on what it is they are doing. Why did you collect this . Key found a cast of ota benga that had been commissioned by the museum of Natural History in st. Louis that i had been looking for the whole time i was doing this project. People at the museum i dont know where that is, i dont know. He found it in dartmouth and he pulled it out and so when i got there they had a convention records, more letters and it was like everything i looked for and more i found at ota benga has a voice now because there was so much documented about what had happened but thank you for that. Really powerful and take these last two questions together and close this out but i wanted to say you dont have to make this stuff up. That is a powerful lesson, colonial archives, every thing you can imagine that you might find fantastical in terms of our capacity to destroy other human beings and make it legitimate and respectable, you dont have to make it a. Next time you pass a person on the street is seems like they literally lost their minds you might pause for a second, listen to the details and to trace the record back to the archives because that is essentially what pamela has done. These stories are all there. They are unfolding before our eyes in this moment as well. You went to in germany recently. I have been doing research on african the germans and in my research i found human jews in germany. They were all over. I was wondering if you could comment on the International Aspect of human zoos. Human zoos were assembled by the people who had conquered these african or