Laughing Through the Pain: the Story of the Pan-American Exposition
Kicking off the Friends Forum series through the University of Minnesota Libraries, Dr. Amma Y. Ghartey-Tagoe Kootin, a professor at the University of Georgia, showcased a musical she had been working on for fifteen years. The musical, At Buffalo, centers on the Pan-American Exposition — a World’s Fair held in Buffalo, New York throughout the majority of 1901.
After coming into contact with the exposition’s archives, Ghartey-Tagoe Kootin immediately felt its story sing to her. What sang the loudest to the professor were the three exhibits that showcased blackness in America in radically conflicting ways: Darkest Africa, Old Plantation, and W.E.B Du Bois’ American Negro Exhibit.
Darkest Africa showcased 100 West Africans to the public as savage cannibals; Old Plantation journeyed through America’s past, hiring ex-slaves to recreate what it was like to be a slave; and W.E.B. Du Bois’ exhibit proudly displayed charts and graphs that proved that African Americans were making great strides in social, economic, and educational life. Obviously, each of these exhibits demonstrated completely different ideologies about what it meant to be black in the early 1900s, and they were each set up practically across the street from one another. I can’t even imagine the pain these Africans and African Americans had to have been feeling. Imagine being asked to relive your years as a slave.
It’s almost laughable.
During the talk, Ghartey-Tagoe Kootin had every member of the audience find a partner, but it had to be a stranger. Then, the professor instructed us to look our partner in the eyes and laugh; we had to laugh uncontrollably, quietly, and even for a full minute! While my partner was super nice, it was still pretty awkward, and laughing started to feel weird and unnatural. But laughing was also the easiest thing to do in that type of awkward situation.
In many ways, that uncomfortable laughter was similar to the experience ex-slaves had at the Exposition. They were free from the chains of slavery, but they had to relive it all just to make some money. The best example of this mix of emotions was Laughing Ben, a former slave who made money by telling stories about his life on the plantation while laughing his famously loud and infectious laugh. I’m sure he didn’t think his life as a slave was in any way funny, but acting like it was made him a little bit of pocket cash in a time when it was difficult for African Americans to prosper economically.
Perhaps, though, laughing through the pain of a most terrible experience did bring Laughing Ben and many other ex-slaves some form of healing. After all, “laughter is the best medicine,” even if it’s effects only last for a moment or two. When I think about Laughing Ben, I am reminded of a quote I really love from rapper Kanye West:
I’ll say things that are serious and put them in a joke form so people can enjoy them. We laugh to keep from crying.
The physical acts of laughing and crying are so similar to each other that sometimes it’s hard to tell them apart. Laughing Ben most likely put up a defensive mask of laughter to hide what he was really feeling inside. To me, that’s one of the saddest yet bravest things a person can do. What’s just as sad is that people rarely talk about what went down at The Pan-American Exposition, which makes Ghartey-Tagoe Kootin’s At Buffalo so important. Had you heard much about the 1901 World’s Fair before right now? I definitely hadn’t! Did you know that an African American man named James Benjamin Parker almost saved President McKinley from being assassinated at the Exposition? Me neither! It truly is time for the world to hear these remarkable stories of resilience and strength through this amazing New American Musical.
