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

The building blocks of your childhood dreams have finally arrived

Mini Materials in Winter Springs, Florida produces beautiful miniaturized construction materials at 1:12 scale. The cinder blocks are made from actual cement, the bricks are made from real terra cotta, and the pallets (which double as coasters) are built from real wood. For added durability you'll probably want to use their mortar that's thankfully easier to mix than the real thing. Whether you want to build your own miniature version of Winterfell Castle, the White House, or the X-Mansion, Mini Materials will let you make them as sturdy as their real-life counterparts. [h/t: Uncrate ]
Post a Comment
Read more

Feast your eyes on the making of 'Heisei Mary'

This is a time-lapse video of  Japanese artist  Shohei Otomo drawing Heisei Mary  — a naked Sailor Moon-like figure completely covered in tattoos. The highly-detailed body ink features Spiderman, Darth Vader, Hello Kitty, Naruto, Street Fighter and Dragon Ball characters to name a few. It's really satisfying to see an artist's process, the way their illustration grows and grows out of nothing. Shohei is known for his hyper-realistic sketches using ballpoint pens. Born in Tokyo in 1980, he is the son of Katsuhiro Otomo, the creator of the manga Akira . He exhibits his work regularly in Japan and Australia as well as in Mexico and France.  Three weeks worth of work are sped up into less than four minutes.
Post a Comment
Read more

Sayaka Ganz creates amazing art menagerie from discarded plastics

I could never get enough of Sayaka Ganz . The Japanese-born artist saves the planet from plastic, at the same time creates brilliant animal sculptures. Raised under the Japanese philosophy of Shintoism, she hopes to bring greater awareness to the condition of our environment through her art. When creating sculptures, Sayaka organizes the reclaimed plastic objects into color groups, constructs a wire frame, and then carefully attaches the fragments of waste until she creates the shape she has envisioned. Her work has been exhibited in many places around the globe, among them Parma, Tokyo, Denver, New York, and San Francisco to name a few. Sayaka's Reclaimed Creations is currently on view at the Asian Arts & Culture Center at Towson University in Maryland. She regularly posts on Facebook, so be sure to like and follow her page for updates.
Post a Comment
Read more