More than 20 million people attended the 1904 World’s Fair. They came to St. Louis to see electricity for the first time, to hear the first telephone, and to witness around 3,000 “savages” from Africa, Asia, and the Americas living in “displays” that resembled their native villages.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Western world was desperate to see the “savage,” “primitive” peoples described by explorers and adventurers scouting out new lands for colonial exploitation.

To feed the frenzy, thousands of indigenous individuals from Africa, Asia, and the Americas were brought to the United States and Europe, often under dubious circumstances, to be put on display in a quasi-captive life in “human zoos.”

These indigenous men, women, and children were brought to the fair to perform their “backwards,” “primitive” culture for eager American masses who could leave feeling a renewed sense of racial superiority.

Due to poor record-keeping, backroom dealing, and the huge number of colonial governments involved, it’s impossible to know the exact number of those who participated in “human zoos,” but it’s not small.

In his 1908 autobiography, Carl Hagenbeck, a human rarities agent, bragged that during a ten-year period, he — alone — brought more than 900 indigenous people to the U.S. and Europe for....

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https://timeline.com/human-zoo-worlds-fair-7ef0d0951035