Why is beneatha so interested in africa

During the following decades, Haile Selassie became a symbol of leadership to other African nations that eventually would demand their independence. The lion is waking This phrase refers to all of the African countries that were beginning to demand their independence of colonial rule.

The reference was somewhat unsettling to colonial rulers of that day because of the suggested imagery of the fates of those caught in the presence of an awakening, ferocious lion. This phrase also refers to the Lion of Judah. Owimoweh "Owimoweh" is the title of an African chant, referring to the waking of the lion. Shaka Zulu incorporated into his own army the warriors from defeated tribes; he also established military towns in order to ensure that his armies were well provided for and excellently trained.

Shaka Zulu initiated the idea of complex battle formations in order to outflank and confuse his enemies, not unlike those strategies used in football formations. In addition, Shaka Zulu revolutionized the existing Zulu weaponry by designing a short-handled stabbing spear, known as the "assegai. Hansberry's description of Walter as he chants to the African music with Beneatha includes a reference to Shaka Zulu, or Chaka: "On the table, very far gone, his eyes pure glass sheets.

He sees what we cannot, that he is a leader of his people, a great chief, a descendant of Chaka, and that the hour to march has come. Ashanti Beneatha's reference to the Ashanti people, along with George Murchison's references to the Songhay Empire, Benin, and the Bantu language, shows that Hansberry herself had some knowledge of the African continent and its culture. Because her uncle, Leo Hansberry, was a professor of African history at Howard University and, perhaps, because one of his students was Kwame Nkrumah, who led Ghana to independence, Hansberry's major geographical focus here appears to be on the history of Ghana, known prior to its independence as "The Gold Coast.

By , however, a group of rival tribes united as the nation of Mali, ravaged Ghana, and put an end to its empire. The rulers of Mali established the Muslim religion that had come out of Arabia and was sweeping throughout Africa. Mali's most well-known king, Mansa Musa, advanced his civilization to a point of such great wealth that when he made his pilgrimage to Mecca, he spent more than a hundred camel-loads of gold on his holy trip.

Perhaps, because of such abuses by its kings, Mali, once one of the world's great trading nations, was eventually conquered by the neighboring kingdom of Songhai Songhay.

Songhai Songhay The Sunni dynastry of Songbai conquered Mali after Mali had progressively grown weaker with its line of ineffective kings. By the s, Songhai had become the largest and richest country in Africa, boasting the city of Timbuktu, which was the center of learning and trade for the Muslim world.

In Timbuktu, men and boys only studied at its great university, utilizing to great advantage its many active libraries and books on history, medicine, astronomy, and poetry. The first Songhai king, Sunni Ali, destroyed much of Timbuktu, but his successor, Askia, rebuilt this ancient city of learning.

However, after the death of Askia, the Songhai Empire weakened and was finally conquered by neighboring enemies. Timbuktu, once the center of learning, became a tiny desert town, important only because of its history. After the fall of the Songhai Empire, the days of the great black kingdoms of West Africa were over. Attesting to Hansberry's preoccupation with the demise of such great African civilizations and her deep regret that there was a universal lack of knowledge of these ancient black kingdoms are her constant references to Africa in Raisin.

Ghana, Mali, and Songhai were the three greatest of the many empires that flourished in West Africa, yet all that remains of these advanced civilizations of past great wealth and strength are relics of ruins and the tales of ancient travelers. 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.

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.

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. JavaScript seems to be disabled in your browser. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. She wants more than to just get by; she wants to find ways to truly express herself. The other Youngers tease her about her journey of self-expression, but Beneatha remains determined to broaden her mind.

Unlike the rest of her family, Beneatha looks beyond her immediate situation in an effort to understand herself as a member of a greater whole. As she becomes more educated, it becomes increasingly hard for Beneatha to relate to the rest of her family.

Sometimes she can be a bit condescending and seems to forget that her family members especially her mother all work very hard to help put her through school. However, this character flaw only serves to make her seem all the more understandable and human.

Ultimately, Beneatha is a kind and generous person, who seeks to become a doctor out of a desire to help people. Beneatha's college education has helped to make her progressive, independent, and a total feminist. She brings politics into the apartment and is constantly talking about issues of civil rights. This realization also brings her closer to Walter.

While she earlier blames him for his shoddy investing and questions his manhood, she eventually recognizes his strength, a sign that she has become able to appreciate him.

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