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?
Hamilton the musical tells a story about ambition, about immigrants, about the founding of a nation. It's compelling. It won a Pulitzer. It made millions.
But the story it tells:
Minimizes slavery
Centers male genius
Makes individual ambition look heroic
Erases ordinary people
Treats the system as inevitable and necessary
Nigeria's founding story tells us about four great men who fought colonialism. It's taught in schools. It's celebrated annually. It makes ordinary Nigerians feel connected to a great project.
But the story it tells:
Marginalizes women
Centers elite nationalism
Makes independence look inevitable
Erases ordinary people's contribution
Treats the system they built as inevitable and necessary
ifiokambrose
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The Story We Tell vs. The Story That Happened
Hamilton the musical tells a story about ambition, about immigrants, about the founding of a nation. It's compelling. It won a Pulitzer. It made millions.
But the story it tells:
Nigeria's founding story tells us about four great men who fought colonialism. It's taught in schools. It's celebrated annually. It makes ordinary Nigerians feel connected to a great project.
But the story it tells: