Samuel Phillips Verner (14 November 1873 – 9 October 1943) was an American missionary and explorer in the

Congo Free State The Congo Free State, also known as the Independent State of the Congo (), was a large Sovereign state, state and absolute monarchy in Central Africa from 1885 to 1908. It was privately owned by Leopold II of Belgium, King Leopold II, the const ...

. Verner is best known for his engagement in trade of African animals and wares that were unavailable in the United States at the time and for being commissioned to exhibit African tribespeople for the

human zoo Human zoos, also known as ethnological expositions, were a colonial practice of publicly displaying people, usually in a so-called "natural" or "primitive" state. They were most prominent during the 19th and 20th centuries. These displays of ...

at the

Louisiana Purchase Exposition The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St. Louis World's Fair, was an World's fair, international exposition held in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from April 30 to December 1, 1904. Local, state, and federa ...

of 1904 in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

. The best known among Verner's acquisitions was

Ota Benga Ota Benga ( – March 20, 1916) was a Mbuti ( Congo pygmy) man, known for being featured in an exhibit at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri, and as a human zoo exhibit in 1906 at the Bronx Zoo. Benga had been p ...

, the sole survivor of his clan, whom Verner bought from

African slave traders African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** List ...

and brought to the United States. Benga became one of the most popular attractions, referred to as "human spectacles", at the Exposition's human zoo and he was later featured in the

Bronx Zoo The Bronx Zoo (also historically the Bronx Zoological Park and the Bronx Zoological Gardens) is a zoo within Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York City. It is one of the largest zoos in the United States by area and the largest Metropolis, metropol ...

until late 1906. Following a controversy over Benga's treatment there, George B. McClellan Jr., the mayor of New York City, ordered Benga's release while Verner received criticism for his negligent concession to the Bronx Zoo.

Biography

The first son of a South Carolina slave-holding family, he studied in Columbia and then went to the University of South Carolina graduating in 1892 as the best of his class. Following a mental breakdown he worked as a laborer in the railroads for about a year. He then moved to work for his uncle A.L. Phillips in

Tuscaloosa, Alabama Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal Plain, Gulf Coastal and Piedmont (United States), Piedm ...

. Here he taught at the Stillman Institute of which his uncle was a superintendent. He had begun to read the works of

David Livingstone David Livingstone (; 19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) was a Scottish physician, Congregationalist, pioneer Christian missionary with the London Missionary Society, and an explorer in Africa. Livingstone was married to Mary Moffat Livings ...

and

Henry Morton Stanley Sir Henry Morton Stanley (born John Rowlands; 28 January 1841 – 10 May 1904) was a Welsh-American explorer, journalist, soldier, colonial administrator, author, and politician famous for his exploration of Central Africa and search for missi ...

on African travels and got in touch with the family of Samuel N. Lapsley, the first Presbyterian missionary who died in the Congo. He decided to move to Africa in 1895 on appeals from Dr S.H. Chester who was the secretary for the Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church. Verner was ordained under an extraordinary clause on 25 September 1895 at the Tuscaloosa Presbytery after an examination in various subjects. He and Joseph Phipps sailed from New York to London aboard ''New York'' and from Southampton to Antwerp and finally aboard the ''R.M.S. Roquelle'' to

Matadi Matadi is the chief sea port of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the capital of the Kongo Central province, adjacent to the border with Angola. It had a population of 245,862 (2004). Matadi is situated on the left bank of the Congo River, ...

in Congo. Verner stayed in the Congo and studied the Tshiluba language. On 15 December 1897 while out on a hill near Ndombe he fell into a trap for animals and was pierced by a poisoned stake. His African assistant, Kassongo, ran to the nearby village of Bindundu and he was treated by a medicine woman. After two weeks he returned to Ndombe and he would continue to recuperate for a year later in Baltimore. The account of his injury has been questioned by Pamela Newkirk in her book. She also notes that Verner left at least two children that he fathered with a Congolese woman in Luebo. In 1898 he brought three Congolese assistants who he intended to teach English and other skills before returning them. This included Kassongo who was killed in a

stampede A stampede () is a situation in which a group of large animals suddenly start running in the same direction, especially because they are excited or frightened. Although the term is most often applied to animals, there are cases of humans stamped ...

in 1902 at Birmingham where he went to hear

Booker T. Washington Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, and orator. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the primary leader in the African-American community and of the contemporary Black elite#United S ...

speak. In the 1900s he made further visits to bring African peoples to the United States. Samuel Phillips Verner resigned from missionary work in 1899. Verner wrote articles based on his African experiences and was considered an expert among others on the Pygmies and on various matters of African colonialism. Verner became a friend of

William Temple Hornaday William Temple Hornaday, Doctor of Science, Sc.D. (December 1, 1854 – March 6, 1937) was an American zoologist, conservationist, taxidermist, and author. He served as the first director of the New York Zoological Park, known today as th ...

to whom he brought chimpanzees. Verner had been hired to procure specimens of African natives for the

and World's Fair of 1904. Verner bought 12 people, among them

, from near the confluence of the Kasai and Sankuru rivers where he claimed that the Baschilele people had held Benga captive. 1906 Ota Benga experienced cultural ban from the Twa clan he lived with in Congo. He decided to return to New York with Verner, who got in touch with Hornaday. He arranged that Ota Benga would exhibit at the Bronx Zoo. First the show attracted visitors, but the conditions of Ota Benga degraded until he was treated like a captive. The situation generated outrage among African-Americans and they obtained his release from Mayor George B. McClellan Jr. Benga eventually killed himself in 1916 after he was unable to secure passage back to Africa. Verner may have been subject of controversy due to some aspects of his activities in contradiction to the nationwide ban in the United States implemented under the Thirteenth Amendment. Earlier national laws had greatly restricted slavery in the United States. These include the

Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves The Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves of 1807 (, enacted March 2, 1807) is a United States federal law that prohibited the importation of slaves into the United States. It took effect on January 1, 1808, the earliest date permitted by the U ...

on 1 January 1808, that made it a felony to import slaves from abroad, but not from stateless countries. Verner claimed that Benga was free and that he did not gain from the exhibition of Benga at the zoo. Verner appears to have gone into obscurity after the Ota Benga affair. In 1912, a patent application for a trapezoidal animal trap gives his address as living in the Obispo Panama canal area. A book on Ota Benga was written by Verner's grandson Phillips Verner Bradford.

References

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External links

Pioneering in Central Africa (1903)
Presbyterian missionaries in Africa 1873 births 1943 deaths