In the annals of colonial history, few episodes encapsulate the complicated tangle of scientific curiosity, racial prejudice, and cultural imperialism as poignantly as the lives of Ota Benga and the Fuegians brought to England aboard the HMS Beagle. Though separated by an ocean and decades in time, their stories mirror each other in unsettling ways — and serve as a mirror to the societies that treated them as specimens rather than equals.
The Fuegians: Tokens of a Colonial Experiment
In the 1830s, Captain Robert FitzRoy of the HMS Beagle brought three Fuegians — Jemmy Button, Fuegia Basket, and York Minster — to England, intending to "civilize" them and return them as cultural intermediaries. They were dressed in English clothes, taught the language, and paraded before curious audiences. The young naturalist Charles Darwin met them during their return voyage and was fascinated by the contrast between their behavior in London and in their native Tierra del Fuego.
"It was interesting to observe the conduct of Jemmy... he was evidently ashamed of the comparative nakedness of his companions."
But once back home, the 'civilizing mission' collapsed. Jemmy Button quickly discarded English clothes, forgot much of the language, and returned to his indigenous lifestyle — a quiet rebuke to the Victorian belief in the superiority of British civilization.
Ota Benga: A Human Zoo in America
Fast forward to 1906 in New York City. Ota Benga, a Mbuti man from the Congo, found himself in a similarly tragic display — not in a drawing room, but in a cage at the Bronx Zoo, alongside apes. His sharp teeth, traditional appearance, and status as an “exotic other” made him a spectacle to American audiences.
Initially brought to the U.S. by missionary Samuel Phillips Verner, Ota Benga’s presence was framed as educational. But the veneer of science couldn’t mask the public’s racist fascination. Crowds mocked him, and newspapers called him “The Pygmy.” The African-American community protested, but it was years before he was released. Unable to return home, alienated, and culturally adrift, Ota Benga tragically died by suicide in 1916.
“We are tired of being told that Ota Benga is a ‘specimen of a race’… He is a man.”
Comparative Analysis: Britain vs. America
The stories of the Fuegians and Ota Benga highlight a disturbing pattern: colonial powers displaying non-European people as curiosities — sometimes under the guise of science, sometimes entertainment. But there are subtle distinctions in approach and context:
- Britain’s approach in the 1830s was cloaked in the language of enlightenment and missionary zeal. The Fuegians were educated and even baptized, though always with the unspoken assumption of cultural hierarchy.
- America’s approach in the early 20th century was more explicitly racialized and commercial. Ota Benga’s treatment in a zoo emphasized spectacle over science, and reinforced popular eugenicist ideas of the era.
In both cases, however, the individuals were denied their agency, turned into instruments of narrative rather than subjects of their own stories.
Legacy and Reflection
Today, these stories remind us of the troubling intersections between science, race, and power. Darwin, who would go on to theorize the unity of all life, was visibly shaken by the apparent “savagery” of Jemmy Button’s people — a perspective shaped as much by his era’s prejudices as by his own observations. The audience at the Bronx Zoo, meanwhile, gawked at Ota Benga not because they didn’t know better — but because their society affirmed their superiority.
“The sight of a naked savage in his native land is not morally offensive. But to see him here… on display — it is inhumane.”
As we continue to reckon with the legacy of colonialism, these stories compel us to ask: What do we choose to remember, and how do we frame it? Are we willing to listen to the voices silenced for so long — not as artifacts of the past, but as part of a shared human narrative?
In remembering Ota Benga and the Fuegians, we do not just remember what was done to them — but what their resilience and humanity reveal about us.
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