![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://uknews.evprotec.com/why-slave-descendants-want-the-benin-bronzes-to-stay-in-us/&media=https://uknews.evprotec.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/127500202_gettyimages-1338659862_976.png&description=Image source, Getty ImagesIn our series of letters from African journalists, Nigerian writer Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani looks at how descendants of slaves in the US have entered the tug of war over some of Africa's most famous artefacts that were stolen during the colonial era and ended up mainly in Western museums.A group of African Americans has filed a lawsuit to stop the return of some Benin Bronzes from the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC to Nigeria.They claim that the bronzes - looted by British colonialists in the 19th Century from the kingdom of Benin in what is now Nigeria - are also part of the heritage of descendants of slaves in America, and that returning them would deny them the opportunity to experience their culture and history."It is a very interesting argument," says 93-year-old David Edebiri, after laughing for about 15 seconds straight.He is part of the cabinet of the current Oba of Benin - the king or traditional ruler in southern Nigeria's Edo state."But the artefacts are not for the Oba alone. They are for all Benin people, whether you are in Benin or in the diaspora."Most Nigerians with whom I have discussed this US lawsuit have burst into laughter.But Deadria Farmer-Paellmann, the founder and executive director of the Restitution Study Group (RSG) which initiated it, is dead serious.What we are saying is that the descendants of the people traded for these manillas have a right to see the bronzes where they live"Deadria Farmer-PaellmannRestitution Study Group executive directorThe 56-year-old founded RSG, a not-for-profit institute based in New York, in 2000 "to examine and execute innovative approaches to healing the injuries of exploited and oppressed people".About 100,000 slaves brought to the US were from ports once controlled by traders from the kingdom of Benin, such as Warri, says Ms Farmer-Paellmann.She is quoting records from the Transatlantic Slave Trade Database hosted by Rice University in Texas - and recent testing showed that 23){kind=link}
In our series of letters from African journalists, Nigerian writer Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani looks at how descendants of slaves in the US have entered the tug of war over some of Africa’s most famous artefacts that were stolen during the colonial era and ended up mainly in Western museums.
A group of African Americans has filed a lawsuit to stop the return of some Benin Bronzes from the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC to Nigeria.
They claim that the bronzes – looted by British colonialists in the 19th Century from the kingdom of Benin in what is now Nigeria – are also part of the heritage of descendants of slaves in America, and that returning them would deny them the opportunity to experience their culture and history.
“It is a very interesting argument,” says 93-year-old David Edebiri, after laughing for about 15 seconds straight.
He is part of the cabinet of the current Oba of Benin – the king or traditional ruler in southern Nigeria’s Edo state.