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 Rumor Mill - "The Reynolds Pamphlet" & Scandal as Political Weapon
"The Reynolds Pamphlet" is about how personal scandal becomes political. Hamilton's affair with Maria Reynolds is leaked, and suddenly his credibility is destroyed. His enemies use it not to punish infidelity but to remove him from power.
Nigeria's political history is FILLED with this. Awolowo accused of corruption (true or not, it damaged him). Azikiwe's integrity questioned. Personal scandals weaponized to remove rivals. The difference? Women's scandals (especially around sexuality) were MORE damaging, even when they involved harassment or assault.
"The Reynolds Pamphlet" centers Hamilton's humiliation. But Maria Reynolds? She's barely a footnote. She was the woman caught in the middle of men's power plays. How many women were caught in the middle of Nigeria's founding politics and got erased entirely?
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The Rumor Mill - "The Reynolds Pamphlet" & Scandal as Political Weapon