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 Washington Monument honors a slaveholder. It's impressive. It stands for American power. But it was built by enslaved and free labor. The contradiction is permanent.
What monuments does Nigeria have? Nigeria House in Lagos. The National Assembly building. Monuments to independence. But they honor a founding that was incomplete, contested, and never fully addressed its contradictions.
Should we tear down the Washington Monument? Should we rename it? Should we keep it but tell the full story?
Same questions for Nigeria. Do we celebrate our independence founders knowing they also preserved patriarchy, corruption, and regional dominance? Or do we acknowledge that independence wasn't actually freedom, it was a transfer of power?
ifiokambrose
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The Monument Question - What Do We Celebrate?