Akaba of Dahomey Akaba of Dahomey Akaba was an early King of the Kingdom of Dahomey, in present-day Benin, from 1685 until "c."1716. King Houegbadja had created the basic structure of the kingdom on the Abomey plateau. His first children were the twins of Akaba and Hangbe and they were followed by another son of Houegbadja who would become King Agaja. As the oldest son, Akaba became the king upon Houegbadja's death and ruled until 1716 when he died during battle in the Ouémé River Valley, either of small pox or in battle. When he died his sister, Hangbe, became the ruler and
In Dahomey also thought to have marked a significant shift in black theatre performance. Limited by a demand for the comedy of ethnic and racial stereotypes— particularly black stereotypes as depicted through minstrel performance— African American performers were constricted to perform variations of the "darky" and the Chinese as caricatures. While still featuring such racial caricatures, "In Dahomey" simultaneously builds on depictions of black characters, forging a significant shift in dominant representations of blacks in the theatre during its era and creating. As the first show with an entirely African American cast, "In Dahomey" is said to have been met with hostility.