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FLEEING THE FAIR TO FREEDOM
by John J. Dunphy
The 1904 St. Louis World's Fair breathtakingly mirrored that era's progress in science, industry, agriculture and the arts. Too few people seem to realize, however, that the fair also reflected that epoch's racism.
The World's Fair Anthropology Department featured outdoor displays of peoples from around the world. To give fair-goers the illusion of authenticity, Alaskan Inuits were forced to wear their native cold-weather garb even during the heat and humidity of a St. Louis summer.
These human exhibits, referred to in fair publications as "the primitives," were classified according to their "stage of development." A series of anthropological books that accompanied the exhibits delineated the hierarchy of civilization with Filipino Negritos at the bottom and Euro-Americans at the top.
Whether many fair-goers found these exhibits offensive is uncertain. It is certain, however, that at least four St. Louisans found the treatment of members of one exhibit morally repugnant and decided to do something about it.
An exhibit that featured 10 South African Kaffir tribesmen was administered by a contingent of Boer soldiers. The Kaffirs fled the fairgrounds in late May 1904 to protest the Boers' failure to pay them according to contract. At the request of the Boer commander, St. Louis police arrested the Kaffirs about a week late and handed them over to the Boers for return to the fair.
An old newspaper account noted that, during their sojourn from the fair, the Kaffirs had been working as coal heavers and living with St. Louis African-Americans "in perfect freedom." The Kaffirs relished their new-found liberty and abhorred the prospect of return to bondage and public exhibition.
While being escorted to the fairgrounds, the Kaffirs suddenly halted in the vicinity of Thirty-Seventh and Rutger Streets and began fighting the astounded Boers. Four St. Louis African-Americans at the scene then entered the fray. These three men and one woman had befriended the Kaffirs during their week of freedom and were determined to help liberate them.
A witness stated that the woman, Willeltha Smith, led the four in the assualt on the Boers and told the Boer commander, "You dirty, bloody Boer! You should be dead!" The commander struck her in the eye.
Another witness told police that the melee drew a crowd of about 300 spectators. The Boer commander issued a riot call and soon, according to the newspaper, "every available man in the Seventh district was participating in the trouble."
The Boers and police overpowered the four St. Louisans and five of the Kaffirs, who were returned to the fair. The other five Kaffirs managed to escape. They were never recaptured and their fate remains unknown.
Smith and thr three men - William Mayberry, John McCullagh and William Smith - were arrested and taken to court. The judge dismissed the cases against the men but fined Smith for disturbing the peace and interfering with an officer in the discharge of his duty.
While we observe the World Fair's Centennial, let's celebrate the courage of four St. Louisans who were appalled at the mistreatment of their fellow human beings and possessed the courage to take action. Let's also celebrate the courage of the Kaffirs who rebelled against an intolerable situation and hope the five who eluded capture truly enjoyed the liberty that they struggled so valiantly to achieve.
This column appeared in The [Alton, IL] Telegraph in 2004.
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