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Ethnological Exhibits
The Dahomeyan Village showcased Africans from French Congo, French Guinea, and Benin. These individuals were recruited by Xavier Pene, a French ivory trader and labor contractor, who was permitted to exhibit an African village. There were 67 individuals in the Dahomeyan village, with four deaths throughout the duration of the exhibit.
 * Japanese Tea Garden
 * Dahomeyan Village

Frederick Douglass both condemned and praised the Dahomeyan Village, stating on separate occasions that it was “as if to shame the Negro [that] the Dahomians are also here to exhibit the Negro as a repulsive savage” and that “the Africans’ dance and ceremonies which were all on the same principle, if not quite so well developed, as those of people living nearer to civilization.”

Despite the use of Africans and African Americans in the Midwinter Fair, none were appointed as dignitaries or as part of the commission. It wasn’t until protests and a call for a boycott that an African American school principal was added as an alternate for the commission, and a “Colored People’s Day” at the fair was scheduled. Fredrick Douglas spoke on that day about the race problem in America and the possible “moral regression”.

The effect of the Dahomeyan Village and similar displays was one that concerned both White and African Americans.