Share the Benin Bronzes!
Share the Benin Bronzes!
Why this petition matters
Slave trader heirs are being transfered thousands of 16th to 19th century slave trade artifacts called Benin bronzes -- brass sculptures and plaques -- from the Smithsonian Institution and other museums around the world.
Sign our petition to demand that the iconic slave trade Benin bronzes be shared with heirs of transatlantic enslaved people who paid for the artifacts with their lives.
The institutions are ignoring the fact that African people were sold by the Benin kingdom in exchange for metal manilla slave trade currency that was melted and molded into the brass artifacts. This has been verified by research.
The slave trader heirs will get a second chance to benefit from their ancestors' selling people into transatlantic slavery -- a crime against humanity. Instead, they should join their victims' heirs in healing dialogue and joint management of shared cultural heritage.
The bronzes are a link to our African ancestors, cultures and homelands in Nigeria. They must stay where we are in the diaspora so we can have access to study them and learn about our heritage.
The bronzes are also our reparations. The total collection is worth as much as $30 billion. One recently sold in Europe for $13 million.
Sign our petition to stop the transfers to the slave trader heirs! Let the museums know that the bronzes belong to all of us -- they must be shared!
To learn more:
Read about this campaign in the New York Post and The Atlantic Monthly.
Screen our Cannes 2023 Cellphone Competition award winning film:
They Belong to All of Us - The Benin Bronze Slave Trade Story
Decision Makers
- Kamala Harris, VPSmithsonian Board of Regents, wilkinsonp@si.edu