The Wembley Exhibition of 1924.
In 1924, the British Empire organised a fair to which artists, craftsmen and other skilled workers from all parts of the empire were invited to showcase their skills and goods. Two blacksmiths from Awka attended the fair. Names: David Nwume and John Uzoka. In the picture below they’re shown hard at work in the African Village of the Exhibition while being observed by British visitors.
Awka people like to say the British then copied the techniques of David Nwume and John Uzoka, and flooded the Nigerian markets with cheap metalware, thereby undercutting the indigenous Nigerian smiths. How true that is ndi Ọka (Awka)?
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