The Setup - "Alexander Hamilton" & The Question of Narrative Power
Hamilton opens with a question that haunts all national origin stories: "How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore and a Scotsman, dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot in the Caribbean by providence impoverished get up and climb?"
This is Lin-Manuel Miranda asking: WHO GETS TO BE REMEMBERED? Who gets their story told? Whose narrative survives?
Nigeria's founding story has the same problem. We celebrate Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Ahmadu Bello, and Kwame Nkrumah (the "Big Four"), but how many know about Herbert Macaulay? Samuel Ajayi Crowther? Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti fighting for women's rights while the "official" founding fathers got the credit?
In "Alexander Hamilton," we meet a young immigrant with ambition. In Nigeria's founding, we meet men shaped by colonialism, educated abroad, returning to fight for independence. But like Hamilton, the question persists: who decided these men were the heroes?
The Arrival - "Aaron Burr, Sir" & The Politics of Respect
"Aaron Burr, Sir" is about introduction and credibility. Hamilton arrives and immediately asks: how do you get people to respect you? How do you make your mark?
Nigeria's founding fathers faced this same crisis of legitimacy. The British controlled everything. These men had to navigate colonial power structures while building a vision for independence. Azikiwe in Lagos, Awolowo in the West, Bello in the North each building power bases, each asking: how do I become indispensable?
Notice what's NOT in "Aaron Burr, Sir"? Women. Just like Nigeria's founding narrative. Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti organized the Abeokuta Women's Union, led the 1949 Aba riots movement echo, fought taxation without representation but she's a footnote. Hamilton got a musical. She got a paragraph in history books.
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The Arrival - "Aaron Burr, Sir" & The Politics of Respect