Benin When George Murchison mentions "the great sculpture of Benin," he is referring to the magnificent works of art that were produced throughout Africa, much to the astonished appreciation of Europeans who had come to Africa, first to trade and later to capture slaves. But, of all the superior works of art that came out of Africa, the most remarkable were those found in Benin. Many factors contributed to the downfall of the aforementioned empires, including weakening from within by internal strife, invasions by outsiders and the beginnings of trade along the West Coast with European merchants. The coastal people who had once been ruled by empires in the interior soon began to trade slaves and gold for firearms and ammunition since lances, spears, and arrows were no match against the rifles and cannons of the Arabs and Europeans. Using their new weapons to fight their rulers, they eventually created their own kingdoms in the coastal forests of West Africa, the most powerful of which was that of Benin (present-day Nigeria). Benin's theocracy dictated the production of art for religious purposes. Tradition states that around 1170, the Oba (king) commissioned the finest bronze/brass-smith, a man who was so excellent in his craft that to this day, his name is worshipped as a god by the bronze/brass-smiths of Benin. Thus began the Benin practice of making bronze-brass castings to memorialize important events. Sadly, the people of Benin began to involve themselves in the lucrative Atlantic slave-trade — selling captured rival prisoners to Europeans and Americans. At this point, we should note that although Hansberry lauds the Ashanti empires specifically and speaks highly of the art of Benin through the dialogue of her character, Beneatha, Hansberry, herself, in other essays, refers specifically to the Ashanti as "those murderous, slave trading Ashanti." Hansberry does not mention the slave trading aspect of West African history in this play; possibly she believed that this fact would be intentionally misinterpreted. The inexcusable complicity of the Africans in the heinous slave trade, however miniscule it might have been, is often exaggerated — perhaps in an attempt to assuage guilt over the grand scale involvement in the violation of human rights by all those connected with the Atlantic slave trade. As the economy of Benin grew to depend upon the slave trade, internal strife once again claimed an empire as Benin declined and was eventually overwhelmed by the British. The British attack on Benin, ironically, was initially to retaliate for the killing of nine European travelers. But when the British stormed the city, they were so impressed by the Benin bronzes that they took them back with them, giving the British Museum an incomparable collection of rare treasures of African art. Because this art received such worldwide attention, few wanted to believe that such magnificent artwork had been created by the Africans. Thus, the art of Benin was, at first, attributed to the Portuguese; then someone suggested that the bronzes had been washed ashore from the lost city of Atlantis or had been created by its descendants or survivors; others said that some lost and wandering Europeans had found themselves in Benin and had produced the bronze wonders; others said that nomadic Greeks had produced these works while journeying through Africa. Still others insisted that these works, found in Africa, had been the products of the European Renaissance. All of this confusion was due to the widespread ignorance of Africa, its traditions, its people and their capabilities, and the great lost civilizations. In this play, Hansberry attempted, in her own small way, to educate the world about Africa through her drama about a poor black family living on Chicago's Southside.
the best little combo in the world This phrase refers to the band of musicians that Walter admires in the Green Hat. "Combo" is a synonym for "band." Clearly, we can see by the way Walter talks about them that he appreciates their music very much.
