Bata Kindai Amgoza ibn LoBagola (1877–1947) was an early 20th-century

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

impostor An impostor (also spelled imposter) is a person who pretends to be somebody else, often through means of disguise. Their objective is usually to try to gain financial or social advantages through social engineering, but also often for purposes ...

and entertainer who presented an exoticized identity as a native of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, when in reality he was born Joseph Howard Lee in

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. Despite an impoverished start in life and a lack of education, and a series of scandalous arrests related to homosexual activities, mainly involving underage individuals, LoBagola maintained a long and colorful career posing as an African "savage", during which he delivered lectures to many institutions and conducted public debates.

''LoBagola; an African Savage's Own Story''

LoBagola published some articles in '' Scribner's Magazine'' in 1929 and the publishers A.A. Knopf decided to produce a book version to be titled ''LoBagola; an African Savage's Own Story'', in an attempt to capitalise upon the then-current vogue for "exotic customs" of "places untouched by Europe". Knopf made much of LoBagola being a "savage" from a region of Africa supposedly never visited by white people, though LoBagola described himself as a "Black Jew", claiming that he was descended from people who had fled the

Holy Land The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Holy ...

following the destruction of Herod's Temple. The book was virtually unedited and came across as a picaresque pseudo-biography, studded with LoBagola's observations of "West African" ways and his adventures in many lands.

Death

LoBagola died in

Attica Prison Attica Correctional Facility is a maximum security campus New York State prison in the Town of Attica, New York, operated by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. It was constructed in the 1930s in response to ...

in 1947, with eighteen months of his current sentence remaining, of a

pulmonary edema Pulmonary edema, also known as pulmonary congestion, is excessive edema, liquid accumulation in the parenchyma, tissue and pulmonary alveolus, air spaces (usually alveoli) of the lungs. It leads to impaired gas exchange and may cause hypoxemia an ...

. He was buried in the prison cemetery.

Popular culture

LoBagola was the subject of a 2016 episode of the ''

Futility Closet Podcast Futility Closet is a blog, podcast, and database started in 2005 by editorial manager and publishing journalist Greg Ross. As of February 2021 the database totaled over 11,000 items. They range over the fields of history, literature, language, ...

''.

External links

Brochure for Speaking Engagements by LoBagola

References

* * 1877 births 1947 deaths Impostors Literary forgeries Writers from Baltimore People prosecuted under anti-homosexuality laws Vaudeville performers American people who died in prison custody Prisoners who died in New York (state) detention American memoirists African-American non-fiction writers American non-fiction writers 20th-century African-American people {{ethno-stub