Setting
George and Hedda: Out of Africa
There are only a few specific references to Africa in this play that focuses on an African American woman living in a majority African American U.S. city, only a short walk from the African American History Museum and an even shorter walk from the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial. Even then, the references are made almost off-handedly and the conversation moves on quickly. However, it is George’s experience in West Africa and his and Hedda’s six-month “honeymoon” there that shape many of the events in the play.
1) West Africa
Aunt Julie tells Thea that George sent to “some university in West Africa” and that they “made him a doctor.” West Africa, of course, covers a lot of ground. While the region itself is not formally delimited or organized into an independently functioning political unit, it is generally considered to comprise the following countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cabo Verde, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo.
(https://www.britannica.com/place/western-Africa)
Unfortunately, West Africa is where the vast majority of Africans were kidnapped and forced to enter the trans-Atlantic slave trade. According to Brittanica.com, more than six million Africans were kidnapped from West Africa, over the course of the slave trade—and that’s just from the countries north of the equator. (https://www.britannica.com/place/western-Africa/The-slave-trade-era).
Clearly, Aunt Julie isn’t too concerned about the fact that “some country” is hardly illustrative of the geographical, cultural, and linguistic distinctions among these countries. That is, she may be being more than a little disrespectful, more than a little Western/white-privilegey. It is also important to counter Julie’s dismissiveness by recognizing that, according to U.S. News and World Report, two of the continent’s best universities lie in West Africa, in Nigeria and Ghana. “Some university” may not be a fair description. (https://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/africa)
On the other hand, there are more than two hundred universities (private and public) in the region, and according to the World Scholarship Forum, higher education in Africa often suffers from poor institutions and faculties that are lured to the West for greater economic opportunities. (https://worldscholarshipforum.com/universities-west-africa)
Why is this important?
George and Hedda are living in what could be, according to statistics, a relatively stable economy—“relatively” being a keyword. West Africa has had impressive economic growth in the past two decades. In 2018, the region was home to six of the top ten fastest-growing economies in Africa: Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Benin and Niger. (https://www.oxfam.org/en/west-africa-extreme-inequality-numbers) Unfortunately, there are significant economic challenges, despite the relative success. Consider what the figures below might mean for Hedda and her experience in West Africa, who is enamored of wealth and its signifiers in an exclusive residential area of Washington, DC:
–Compared to other regions on the continent, West Africa has the greatest number of countries with more than 30 percent of the population living on less than $1.90 a day. The top one per cent West Africans own more than everyone else combined in the region.
–Five of Nigeria’s richest men have a combined wealth of US$29.9 billion – more than the country’s entire national budget for 2017. However, about 60 per cent of its citizens live on less than US$1.25 a day, the threshold for absolute poverty.
–In Ghana, West Africa’s second biggest economy, one of the richest men earns more in a month than one of the poorest women could earn in 1,000 years. In the decade ending in 2016, the country added 1,000 US dollar millionaires while nearly one million more people were added to the poverty pool.
–West Africa countries lose an estimated $9.6 billion each year through corporate tax incentives offered to multinational companies. This would be enough to build about 100 modern and well-equipped hospitals each year in the region.
–Inequality is also rife in the provision of public services such as education. Women from rich families in Mali are 15 times more likely to have received a secondary education than women from poor families. An estimated 70% of the poorest girls in Niger have never attended primary school. (https://www.oxfam.org/en/west-africa-extreme-inequality-numbers)
2) Pico-Basilé, Equatorial Guinea
At an altitude of 3,011m (more than 9,000 ft), Pico Basilé is the highest mountain in the country. On a clear day you might be able to see the volcanic peak of Pico Basilé, but clear days are rare. The park has dense rain forest and it’s worth climbing the mountain for the wonderful views, but take a guide. You are not allowed to reach the top, as it is a military area. The area was colonized first by the Portuguese and then by the Spanish, which accounts for the Latinate names, despite the fact that much of western Africa speaks more French than Spanish. (https://www.lonelyplanet.com/equatorial-guinea/bioko-island/attractions/parque-nacional-de-pico-basile/a/poi-sig/1553567/1330923)
However, George and Hedda travel a great distance to the other visitation site: about 2500 miles, or about the distance from Washington, DC to Los Angeles, CA.
3) Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park/Victoria Falls, Zambia/Zimbabwe
Bordered between Livingstone town, farmland and the Zambezi River, lies the wildlife area of Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park – Zambia’s smallest National Park. The river forms the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe, so the falls are shared by the two countries, and the park is a kind of twin to the Victoria Falls National Park on the Zimbabwean side
This small reserve was established in 1972 with the idea of having representative wildlife species from Zambia. The park extends from the Batoka Gorge and continues for about 12km along the Zambezi River, above Victoria Falls, which is 1,688 m wide and 108 m high. For comparison, it is twice the height of Niagara Falls and about half a kilometer wider. It is considered the world’s largest sheet of falling water.
(https://www.zambiatourism.com/destinations/national-parks/mosi-oa-tunya/)
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Washington D.C.
In 1790 the U.S. Congress established a 100-square-mile (260-square-km) territory to serve as the permanent seat of the federal government. (The territory was later named the District of Columbia, within which the city of Washington was built.) The location for the new territory was centralized among the Eastern Seaboard states and was about 90 miles (145 km) inland from the Atlantic Ocean on land ceded by Maryland and Virginia. In the mid-19th century the land south of the Potomac River that had been ceded by Virginia was returned to the state, reducing the District to its present-day size.
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After the American Civil War (1861–65), the city of Washington expanded beyond its originally planned boundaries and became legally indistinguishable from the District of Columbia. Washington, D.C., remains a territory, not a state, and since 1974 it has been governed by a locally elected mayor and city council over which Congress retains the power of veto and may overturn local laws. D.C. residents elect a non-voting, at-large congressional delegate to the House of Representatives, but the district has no representation in the Senate.
Why is this important?
This city, co-existent with the federal district, has a majority population of Black-identified citizens. However, they have no voting representation in either the U.S. House of Representatives or the U.S. Senate. That means that the residents of D.C. have no input in legislative matters. That also means that citizens of D.C. have about the same legal status as citizens of U.S. territories, such as Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico—citizenship but with no access to the legislative business of the country, unlike U.S. states have. They are, in a very real sense, second-class citizens, which explains the motto on District license plates: “Taxation Without Representation.” If you are familiar with that phrase, it is probably because it was one of the rallying cries that energized the colonies’ Revolutionary War against Great Britain. Times have not changed very much, apparently.
The Freeman/Thompson Walking Tour
The accompanying map indicates the primary part of the city where Hedda and George would spend most of their quotidian lives. It is the western part of the city, and the letters (described in the legend below the map) suggest some reasons why they may be significant to the Freeman/Thompson’s daily lives.
Why is this important?
For Hedda in particular, she lives in an area that is saturated with monuments to glory and war and death and the beauty that she associates with honorable death. The splendid memorial constructs articulate the glories of deaths through heroic, sacrificial acts. The proximity of both the Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery are probably daily reminders of her father’s accomplishments and memory. In addition, there are sites of Black empowerment that also energize the city and Hedda’s perspective.
Setting the Scene: The Geography of Hedda Freeman
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1) Washington, D.C., is the capital city of the United States, located between Virginia and Maryland on the north bank of the Potomac River, and is home to more than 500,000 people. The city is home to all three branches of the federal government, represented by their primary edifices: the White House, the Supreme Court and the Capitol Building.
–history.com
Why this is important: DC is a city of power and powerful people—and people who want access to that power–in Hedda’s words, “Real power.” Hedda’s father was a military general and would have access to that power.
2) Citizens of DC are citizens the capital of the United States, who are deprived of voting representation in the national legislature, have been seeking statehood for years. On September 9, 1983, a Constitution and petition for statehood for New Columbia—as the new state would be called—was presented to Congress. It has been denied statehood opportunities repeatedly.
–history.com
Why this is important: Denial of statehood is often seen to be the result of demographic representation: DC is a majority Black city. Black-identified people comprise 44 % of the population, with White-identified people comprising only 37% (with “Hispanic” people comprising about 11% and Asian people comprising 4%, and 12% are foreign-born).
–census.gov
3) Potomac, MD, where Thea came from, is an unincorporated area of about 50,000 residents about fourteen miles west of DC, and it is among the wealthiest communities, per household, in the United States. Estimated median income last year was about $200,000 per year. It is about 60% white, 21% Asian, 9.5% “Hispanic,” and 5.5 % Black. Almost 53% of the population is composed of women, with men comprising about 47%.
–city-data.com
Why this is important: It provides a stark contrast between Thea’s world and Hedda’s world.
4) Georgetown University is a private, Catholic/Jesuit liberal arts university on the northwestern edge of DC. Its current student enrollment is about 17,000, and the university is governed by both a Board of Regents and a Board of Directors. It has a $1.6 billion endowment (comparatively, WCSU’s endowment is $12.8 million). On average, about 150 Ph.D.-holding professionals apply for each full-time, tenure-track position. Median faculty salary at Georgetown is $217,000 per year; a starting assistant professor begins at about $120,000.
–georgetown.edu
Why this is important: First, Jack has influential connections to people who have lots of money and power and influence. Second, getting a full-time teaching position there is extremely difficult. Such positions are prestigious and coveted. Third, while George will likely be starting at assistant professor salary, salaries can climb to more than $300,000. (No, we don’t even come close to that at WCSU).
5) It is likely, given the references in the script, that Hedda and George live in an area of DC called Foggy Bottom. It is just to the southeast of Georgetown, just to the southwest of Dupont Circle, and just to the north of the Mall (including most of the major DC memorials—Lincoln, Washington, Viet Nam, M.L. King, Korea, WWII, etc.), and a little further north of the Channel. It is adjacent to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, as well as the Watergate Hotel—the scene of one of the most scandalous events in American politics. It is possible that Thea is staying at The Watergate, as there are living units reserved for use by government and other officials, and Thea is probably using her husband’s connection to a unit there. The population is about 9,500, of which more than 98% works at white-collar jobs, with an average salary of about $96,000. The average household has just under two people.
–point2homes.com
Why this is important: Hedda and George are moving into a couples/singles area, so the idea of having children living with them would wreck the curve. It is likely that they are probably living on the east side of Foggy Bottom, near Dupont Circle, where the average number of members in a household is higher and there are more townhomes and fewer apartments. It also suits the logistics of the script, for where the characters say that they go.
Below are maps of the area (notice that the channel is south of the Mall)
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“Smells like hundred year-old flowers and hot death.” However, it can’t be broken down; it must still have potential for renovation.
