Deadria Farmer-Paellmann Provides an Update on Restitution Study Group's Work for Slavery Justice, including the Status of the Benin Bronze Suit Against the Smithsonian Institution

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Cover Photo by Nils Paellmann

0:00 Restitution Study Group (RSG) Executive Director Deadria Farmer-Paellmann 

1:30 overview of suit and issues raised 

4:30 Prof. Tobias Skowronek’s findings on the metals contained in the manillas

7:00 Dismissal of suit against Smithsonian based on mootness

7:55 court order that Plaintiffs conceded points and waived arguments 

8:45 ruling in OK reparations case for the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

10:30 Nigerian declaration by outgoing President Buhari 

12:00 critical argument that transfer was ultra vires  

13:00 Administrative Procedure Act - failure to hold public hearing on ‘ethical transfers’ creates First Amendment issue 

15:00 opinion on Nigeria’s position 

17:00 DNA research as to descendants from Esan People from Benin Kingdom

19:00 Benin Kingdom’s enslavement of their females

20:15 Manchester Museum’s 2023 repatriation to Australia’s Aboriginal Anindilyakwa community of Groote Eylandt

21:00 change in narratives offered by Frankfurt’s Museum of World Cultures and Berlin’s Humboldt Museum 
22:45 ancestral dedications at institutions holding Benin Bronzes

23:30 Benin Kingdom Museum in Harlem, NY 

25:15 underreporting on lawsuit 

26:00 shock about value of Benin Bronzes - a classic Wakanda story at end of first Black Panther film

28:20 potential for justice in US lower federal courts and in SCOTUS

31:00 narrative attached to the Benin Bronzes

33:30 Illinois State Rep. Carol Ammons - Joint chairwoman of Illinois Legislative Black Caucus meeting with Chicago's Field Museum

34:30 NY Legislator involved in work of RSG

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Music by Toulme.

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© Stephanie Drawdy [2025]