Louise Ben-Naim

Race and Judaism

Tablier Rasa

Throughout Tablier Rasa by Ewen and Ewen, it describes how primitive types were
being exhibited in museums and halls for scientists to explore and examine for documentation.
Ewen and Ewen start off by discussing an African American woman named, Saartjie Baartman,
who was taken from her home and publically humiliated in front of hundreds of thousands of
people throughout London. Many came to examine her anatomy because they viewed her people,
The Hottentot people, as wild beasts or apes. Cuvier, father of paleontology, described the
Hottentot in relation to the lowest race of humans (the negros) and the highest type of ape (the
orangutan) (Ewen 127). After she died, she was biopsied and presented in front of observers and
scientists to learn more about her abnormality. However, she was not the only taken from her
home and humiliated, many others from West Africa, north Europe, and native American
territories went through the same humiliation as well. The flow of human exhibits continued
from the mid of 17th century through the beginning of the 18th century, which brings the reader to
Ota Benga. Ota Benga was one of the Bushmen, captured and forced into slavery, where he was
turned into a human exhibit. He ended up living in a zoo with apes which offered reassurance to
society that the world has unequal worth. During this type period, the Ku Klux Klan was also in
its prime and emphasized racial inequality. Viewing Caucasians as perfection and beauty shows
the racism throughout society as well. In these exhibits, they showed off a circassian beauty
who is a young woman employed to represent the summit of Caucasian perfection (Ewen 137).
All in all, this chapter demonstrates the cruelty colored or exotic people faced because of their
skin color and body anatomy and how it was handled.