A little girl being showcased in a human zoo, 1958

A little girl being showcased in a human zoo, 1958

Yes, you read that right. People, usually from Africa or indigenous areas were taken from their homes and toured around the world for the entertainment of others. Seen here is a little girl from Africa in a western dress being fed from the hand of one of the bystanders at the event, like an animal in a cage. The most astonishing thing about these is that they existed right until the 1960s when they were deemed to breach human rights. This human zoo was in Belgium.

Other human zoos existed too. In Missouri America, there was the Igorot Village, which you can see in the second image. The Igorrote people are an indigenous tribe from the Philippines. The US spent $1.5 million to round up about 1,500 Igorrote members who would volunteer to come to the US. There, they would find themselves in a fake village at Coney Island amusement park. They were not well known to the US at the time

Each Igorot was paid $15 a month (about $466.31 today) to display their culture and customs to thousands of Americans. Their living conditions were extremely poor. Many were exposed to new diseases too, which their immune systems could not handle. Many of these indigenous people were not used to the new climate, and a few actually did die of these factors and were buried in an unmarked mass grave somewhere on the park's grounds. Igorrote members eat dog meat but in very specific ceremonies. It is generally a rare occasion, however, they were fed dog meat every day by park authorities, which may have been done to make them appear more controversial, therefore it would bring more customers to the park to view these people. Many Americans would look in horror as they saw the Igorrote eat dog meat, which further pushed stereotypical values onto these people that they were uneducated savages. These parks would eventually be shut down and those who organized them would be arrested.

Photographers: unknown

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