Photograph of Ota Benga with chimpanzee, circa 1910, by Bain News Service

Courtesy of Library of Congress

On Sunday afternoon, March 19, the Lynchburg community will gather at historic Diamond Hill Baptist Church to honor the memory of Ota Benga, the Congolese African man who lived in Lynchburg in the 1910’s after being exhibited at the St. Louis World’s Fair and Bronx Zoo. The program is free and open to the public. All are welcome.

Speakers in the service will include Ted Delaney, Lynchburg Museum Director; Dr. Lindsay Michie, Professor of History at the University of Lynchburg; Francine Baruti, Congolese committee member; Magus Magnus, poet of Washington, D.C.; and Rev. Dr. James E. Coleman, Jr., Faculty Chair of Virginia University of Lynchburg.

Performers will include Hunter Hayes, Emmy Award-winning musician and great-grandson of Prof. Gregory W. Hayes, second president of VUL; Telly Tucker, Music Director of Diamond Hill Baptist Church; Ronnie Shoultz, entrepreneur and vocalist; and the Kuumba Dance Ensemble of Lynchburg.

The memorial service coincides with the 107th anniversary of Benga’s death, which occurred on March 20, 1916. Benga died on the campus of Virginia University of Lynchburg (VUL), and his funeral service was held at Diamond Hill Baptist Church. He is believed to be buried in White Rock Cemetery, an historic African American cemetery in the White Rock Hill neighborhood of Lynchburg.

The March 19 event is sponsored by the International Ota Benga Memorial Committee, whose mission is to keep Benga’s memory alive, both as a person and as a symbol of all the nameless, faceless, and voiceless Africans who have been exploited in America.