If you were able to attend the Shout 'n' Share Panel at BEA you heard several librarians raving about the book Spectacle by Pamela Newkirk.
This nonfiction story reads like a novel and traces the tragic life of Ota Benga, a young Congolese man sold by slave traders to Samuel Philips Verner who then brought him to America to be featured in an anthropology exhibit at the St. Louis World’s Fair.
Two years later, Ota Benga was acquired by the New York Zoological Gardens. He was caged in the Primate House along with an orangutan, and displayed to visitors with a sign designating him “The African Pygmy.” Tens of thousands of visitors came to see Ota Benga. He commanded headlines from New York to California, and across Europe, sparking a firestorm of criticism and intrigue.
Spectacle follows Ota from Africa to St. Louis, to the Bronx, Long Island, and finally Lynchburg, VA., where, at the age of 32, he committed suicide. It charts the evolution of science and race relations in New York City during the early years of the 20th Century, and much like The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Spectacle reveals a little-known episode in American history.
Would you like a copy? We are giving away 5, so email librarylovefest@harpercollins.com to win!
– Annie
*EDIT: this giveaway is now closed