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Please visit the following to view the Benin Bronzes and to learn more about the Restitution Study Group.

Show Notes:

00:00 manillas used to trade for slaves as documented by Alan Ryder in Benin and the Europeans

02:50 mission and work of Restitution Study Group to fight for slavery justice

03:20 RSG’s focus on corporations, private estates and governments that were complicit in slavery

03:45 RSG’s suits against insurance companies for slavery policies

06:00 RSG’s suits against banks like J.P. Morgan Chase

0:630 RSG’s suits included consumer fraud and human rights arguments

07:30 DNA testing used by RSG 

08:30 DNA results and TransAtlantic Slave Trade Database used to trace ancestry

08:50 RSG’s action filed for genocide compensation efforts

09:35 the Proxmire Act, Genocide Convention Implementation Act of 1987

12:30 RSG’s suit against the Smithsonian Institution over the Benin Bronzes

14:40 1896 massacre of British soldiers 

15:30 Kingdom of Benin’s practice of sacrifice 

16:15 RSG’s demand for a share of the Benin Bronzes

17:20 RSG’s meeting with Kingdom of Benin’s princess 

19:20 Charleston, SC

19:30 Jamaica

21:00 The Benin Monarchy: An Anthology by Oba Ewuare II Foundation (2018) 

21:55 Paula Girshik

22:25 Harz Mountains

23:50 Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African Art's Ngaire Blankenberg  "confusion" on Kingdom of Benin's involvement in  slave trade 

24:45 per Dr. Paul Lovejoy, manillas were used in  slave traded and to make Benin Bronzes for 300 years

26:00 RSG’s allegations that Smithsonian is violating US law that requires consideration for transfer of the Bronzes outside the Smithsonian

28:00 Board of Regents vote on transfer of Benin Bronzes

30:30 11 October 2022 - Smithsonian’s scheduled transfer of Benin Bronzes 

31:30 Lack of media attention on this issue

31:50 Short film They Belong to All of Us

34:00 RSG’s suit against the Smithsonian is a restitution case

34:45 RSG’s efforts with institutions other than the Smithsonian

36:50 bronzes taken according to the laws of war

39:45 forensic research 

41:50 16th-19th Century Bronzes

42:15 Dan Hicks’ book The Brutish Museum

43:50 removing labels from the Bronzes

44:50 Oba Head gifted by Nigerian leader 

48:30 Benin City - hub of human trafficking 

51:20 African scholar Dr. Ibrahima Seck 

52:00 missing slave trade documentation for two main slave ports

54:00 one on one approach with American institutions

57:00 Petition submitted to UK’s Charities Commission

1:02:00 Smithsonian’s current holdings of Bronzes

1:04:00 RSG’s emergency motion

1:05:20 number of Bronzes in the U.S.

1:09:00 dual citizenship

1:11:00 Nigeria’s request for reparations 

1:11:50 definition of justice

1:14:00 opportunity for Nigeria to speak up

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Music by Toulme.

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Thanks so much for listening!

© Stephanie Drawdy [2025]