Race Scientists and the Human Zoo

Aug 27, 2026 · 57m

In 1904, men who believed in 'race science' put hundreds of people in a human zoo at the St. Louis world's fair. Today, those same racist, pseudoscientific views persist, and the men who hold them demand to be taken seriously in the name of academic freedom. Sources & Further Reading: Newkirk, Pamela (2015). Spectacle: The Astonishing Life of Ota Benga. Amistad. Saini, Angela (2019). Superior: The Return of Race Science. Beacon Press. McCray, Carrie Allen (2012). Ota Benga Under My Mother’s Roof. University of South Carolina Press. Gould, Stephen Jay (1996). The Mismeasure of a Man. Penguin Books. Nathan Cofnas’ Doctoral Thesis: https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:bd78170f-1131-47ef-af8d-7a3bb2ef41d0 https://jannalangholz.wordpress.com/2022/12/26/17-worlds-fair-deaths/ https://thenewinquiry.com/blog/specimen-days-human-zoos-at-the-1904-worlds-fair/ https://web.archive.org/web/20070610034510/http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/Bontoc.html https://ashp.cuny.edu/documentaries-list/savage-acts-wars-fairs-and-empire-1898-1904/# https://www.wsj.com/opinion/free-expression/how-i-became-the-scapegoat-in-the-jason-arday-affair-dc134088 https://investigations.hopenothate.org.uk/race-science-inc/ h…

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