Race Scientists and the Human Zoo
Race Scientists and the Human Zoo  
Podcast: Weird Little Guys
Published On: Thu Aug 27 2026
Description: 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: https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:bd78170f-1131-47ef-af8d-7a3bb2ef41d0https://jannalangholz.wordpress.com/2022/12/26/17-worlds-fair-deaths/https://thenewinquiry.com/blog/specimen-days-human-zoos-at-the-1904-worlds-fair/https://web.archive.org/web/20070610034510/http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/Bontoc.htmlhttps://ashp.cuny.edu/documentaries-list/savage-acts-wars-fairs-and-empire-1898-1904/#https://www.wsj.com/opinion/free-expression/how-i-became-the-scapegoat-in-the-jason-arday-affair-dc134088https://investigations.hopenothate.org.uk/race-science-inc/https://www.brusselstimes.com/belgium/2007046/ghent-university-under-fire-for-appointing-us-philosopher-with-ties-to-scientific-racismhttps://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-biosocial-science/article/abs/reptiles-with-a-conscience-the-coevolution-of-religious-and-moral-doctrine-by-nathan-cofnas-pp-523-ulster-institute-for-social-research-press-london-2012-3000-isbn-9780956881151-paperback/4005A8AD3C5B21AC0A82A38D5D97BBF8https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/03/the-man-who-was-caged-in-a-zoohttps://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/06/nyregion/thecity/the-scandal-at-the-zoo.htmlhttps://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cevmrjd9lj1ohttps://www.theguardian.com/education/2024/jan/06/harvard-claudine-gay-plagiarismhttps://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/largest-human-zoo-world-historySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.