Mary Burnett Talbert - Table of Contents

Mary Burnett Talbert and the 1901 Pan American Exposition

The African-American community had met at Michigan Street Baptist Church to promote a Negro Exhibit such as Atlanta's. In 1895, Booker T. Washington had installed an exhibit on Negro Education in the South at the Atlanta Cotton States Centennial Exposition. The movement was led by Mrs. John Dover, vice president of the Phyllis Club of Colored Women, politician James Ross, and educator Mary Talbert who was recommended as commissioner for the exhibit.

They were refused, and, instead, E.S. Dundy's "Old Plantation" was installed at the Pan Am. The "Old Plantation" freely portrayed Black American life with bigotry and disrespect. For example, "Laughing Ben" was the Plantation's image of "good negroes," the "Uncles and Aunties."

In addition, at the Pan Am, an African village was set up: "African warriors from Darkest Africa -- Assegal Throwers, Zulus, Cannibals..." Sixty-two people supposedly representing 35 tribes were brought to Buffalo to demonstrate weapons, handicrafts, songs, dances, and it was said, witchcraft. Only one, John Tivie, had been outside Africa before, to Chicago in 1893, and they all remained secluded in their compound.


On a positive note, the U.S. Congress approved $15,000 for the installation of the W.E.B. DuBois' full scale exhibit on African-American achievement, an official U.S. entry at the 1900 Paris World's Fair. The exhibit depicted Black achievements in education, industrial work, literature, journalism, and more.

- Source: "Buffalo's Pan-American Exposition," by Thomas E. Leary and Elizabeth C. Scholes. Arcadia Pub., 1988.



This pamphlet was presented to individuals visiting the Pan-American African Village. The pamphlet provided an overview and explanation of the village and reflects the understanding of the culture for that time.



Signature: J??? R. K???
Caption: My Father - Frank H. Chappelle built this - The African Village at the Pan American Exp. 1901

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