Skip to main content

Photos of a time when the U.S. held Filipino tribesmen in zoos

Igorot men from the Philippines dance in a semi-circle at the St. Louis World's Fair.

It wasn't too long ago that thousands of Filipino tribesmen were taken from their motherland and displayed as carnival or zoo exhibits for the American people to gawk at. The year was 1904. The place was St Louis, Missouri. Filipino ethnic groups were a rarity for the American audiences in that era, and the US government decided to bring 1,300 Filipino minorities from various tribes to the tune of $1.5 million and exhibited them like animals in front of large crowds.

The St. Louis World's Fair unveiled to the world new ideas, products and technological feats that captivated thousands of visitors. But during the seven months that the fair was open, 'living exhibits' also entertained guests with their religious songs, war dances, and other tribal rituals. The biggest crowd-drawers were the Igorots, who were introduced to their colonial masters as primitive dog-eating headhunters.

These exhibits were conducted to prove that indeed, white people were at the top of civilization, and turned native peoples of darker color into objects, to be scrutinized, to be gawked at, and inevitably to be pitied and despised.

Igorots resting after performing a ritual dance.

In 1905 former Bontoc lieutenant governor Truman Hunt brought with him a group of Igorots to the United States where they travelled around and put on human exhibits. Hunt's operation came to an end after rumors broke out how he maltreated the tribesmen. The export of ethnic groups was finally banned by the Philippine government in 1914 when it passed a comprehensive anti-slavery law. With that, the concept of human zoos largely faded from public consciousness.

Filipino tribesmen at Dreamland, Coney Island, New York.

Young Filipino girl, Coney Island, New York.

This article was published in the Los Angeles Herald on December 10, 1905. Found via this blog.

[h/t: FilipiKnow]
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Where Bad Space and Good Music Collided

My first apartment was in Malate, and calling it “small” would be generous. I lived there with two girls and one guy, and to this day, I genuinely don’t know how we all fit. It felt like a magic trick. Or a health hazard. We were a musical mess. One roommate lived and breathed ’70s classics. Another was permanently blasting Korn and Slipknot. One survived solely on cheesy love songs. And me? I was floating somewhere between new wave and folk rock, pretending that made sense. Somehow, despite the noise and the chaos, we all lived together in this weird, mismatched harmony. No murders. No lawsuits. A win, honestly. My music taste now is nothing like it was in my twenties. Not even close. But I’ll always be grateful to Jacqueline for introducing me to this song in particular. It was playing when I woke up from a very memorable sleep in 2002. I was 21, half-awake, probably confused about life, and that song stuck. It still hasn’t let go.
Post a Comment
Read more

Eric van Straaten's 3D-Printed Statuettes

I can't remember when I first became entranced with Eric van Straaten 's 3D-printed sculptures. I think I stumbled onto his work through tumblr when I was searching for new artists to follow. Eric's attention to detail is pretty amazing, and the image of the eroticized child-woman is familiar throughout his work. Most of his hyper surreal pieces are 3D-printed in sandstone material, which are created by laying down a thin layer of gypsum powder and using a binding agent and color inks to print a pattern onto it. Once the entire model is printed, it is withdrawn from the print bed and the excess powder is removed. The model is then sealed and ready for display. "I think that the girls I create in my work are visualizations of my own feelings, fantasies and thoughts," the Dutch artist explains. "The girls actually look like someone I (used to) know and the different ‘portraits’ tell something about what I think of myself in regards to her or women ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Adorable Sculptures of Yen Yen Lo

These images are from a series of wall sculptures created by Yen Yen Lo . Here you can see her intricately textured ceramic pieces, looking downright adorable. Yen Yen Lo's eye for the unique and whimsical is delightful. Apparently they are not intended for kids under 16. Fifteen-year-olds cannot be trusted with fragile stuff. Get them a Funko Pop instead.
Post a Comment
Read more