Weird Little Guys

Race Scientists and the Human Zoo

Donnerstag, 27. August 2026 · 58 min

MP3

Shownotes

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: ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:bd78170f-1131-47ef-a…

jannalangholz.wordpress.com/2022/12/26/17-worl…

thenewinquiry.com/blog/specimen-days-human-zoo…

web.archive.org/web/20070610034510/http://www.…

ashp.cuny.edu/documentaries-list/savage-acts-w…

wsj.com/opinion/free-expression/how-i-became-t…

investigations.hopenothate.org.uk/race-science…

brusselstimes.com/belgium/2007046/ghent-univer…

cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-biosoci…

theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/03/the-man-who-…

nytimes.com/2006/08/06/nyregion/thecity/the-sc…

bbc.com/news/articles/cevmrjd9lj1o

theguardian.com/education/2024/jan/06/harvard-…

laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/largest-human-…
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