Human zoos were exhibits of black and indigenous people caged, and displayed in a "makeshift natural habitat".

Ota Benga" was a man kidnapped from his home in Africa, and displayed in a cage at the Bronx Zoo in New York (1906), along with an orangutan. People threw him food, taunted him, and applauded when he did something they liked.

In 1878 and 1889, the "Parisian World Fair" drew crowds of 28 million to their "Negro villages". Decades later in 1931, the "human zoo" exhibition in Paris attracted 34 million visitors in six months.

These Indigenous people were brought to the fairs to perform their "primitive" culture for eager American masses. African tribal members were required to wear traditional clothing intended for the equatorial heat, even in freezing December temper atures.

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