Forgotten History: Human Zoos at 1904 World's Fair

October is Filipino American Heritage Month and should be a time to remember the history of Filipinos in America. Not many people today remember how Filipinos were exhibited like animals at the 1904 St. Louis Word's Fair, but its a story that should not be forgotten. Following the Philippine-American war, the Philippines became a territories of the United States. Organizers of the 1904 World's Fair sought to spotlight the positiveimpact the U.S. would have on the "backward" people of its new territories. They built a 47 acre compound at the site of the World's Fair in St. Louis, consisting of over 100 buildings and structures in which over 1000 Filipinos would live for the 8 month run of the fair. The Philippine Exhibition at the 1904 World's Fair was to showcase several different peoples from the Philippines, from small tribes to cosmopolitan people living in major cities like Manila. Buildings and structures were designed to mimic the actual building they lived in back home in the Philippines. In blunt terms, it was a human zoo. It was the most popular exhibition at the fair, thousands of people lined up to gawk at Filipinos in their "natural environment". The most popular was the section devoted to the dog eating Igorot people. Fair organizers trumped up the dog eating aspect, claiming that their was a shortage of dog meat and prompting St. Loius locals to dogs to the fair for the Igorots to eat. In truth the the Igorots, only occasionally ate dog meat back in the Philippines, but were forced to eat every day to satisfy the the curiosity of fair goers. Fair goers did not seem to realize the irony that "civilized" people would treat other human beings in such an insulting way.