World’s Fairs were supposed to celebrate diversity, innovations, and the progress of the world. The truth? They were Racist AF. Here are five major ways.
#1: The Entrance. The entry point to the original “World’s Fair” was called The White City. It burned brightly with lights and a white façade – and was a testament to white supremacy.
#2: Fake Pygmies and Zulus. Blacks were put on display by white missionaries and compared to apes by anthropologists. But one day, a Black attendee told an “exhibit” of Zulus they could leave – so they did!
#3: Human Zoos – These were zoos within the World’s Fair displaying “odd-looking” people like the kidnapped albino twins, George and Willie Muse. After their rescue, they returned to the circus and were paid fair wages.
#4 - Ota Benga, a Congolese boy, was first displayed at the 1904 World’s Fair, and in 1906 was kept in a cage for three days at the Bronx Zoo’s Monkey House with apes until a Black patron protested!
#5 - Aunt Jemima debuted at the World’s Fair, serving whites pancakes while she reminisced about the “good ole days” on the plantation. But the actor, Nancy Green, got very little out of the deal.