Kenya's first president, Jomo Kenyatta | African American Registry Kenya's first president, Jomo Kenyatta Jomo Kenyatta Date: Fri, 1893-10-20 On this date in 1893, we celebrate the birth of Jomo Kenyatta. He was an African political leader, and the first president of Kenya. He was from the Kikuyu tribe, and one of the earliest and best-known African nationalist leaders. He became secretary of his tribal association in 1928, campaigning for land reform and African political rights. In England, he collaborated with other African nationalist students and in 1946, founded with Kwame Nkrumah, the Pan-African Federation. Returning to Kenya, he became president of the Kenya African Union that same year. In 1953, during the Mau Mau uprising, Kenyatta was imprisoned by the British as one of its instigators and sent to internal exile in 1959. Kenyatta was elected president of the newly founded Kenya African National Union while in exile (1960).

Released in 1961, he participated in negotiations with the British to write a new constitution for Kenya, which became independent in 1963. An author, he wrote "Facing Mount Kenya" (1938) and "Suffering Without Bitterness" (1968). Kenya became a republic in 1964 with Kenyatta as its first president. Influential throughout Africa, Kenyatta was intolerant of dissent in Kenya. Outlawing some opposition parties in 1969, he established a one-party state in 1974. The stability resulting from his leadership attracted foreign investment, partly because of his non-aligned foreign policy. He died in office in 1978. Reference: The Encyclopedia Britannica, Fifteenth Edition. Copyright 1996 Encyclopedia Britannica Inc. ISBN 0-85229-633-0 The World Book Encyclopedia. Copyright 1996, World Book, Inc.

ISBN 0-7166-0096-X Jomo Kenyatta: 10 Revealing Facts About Him Editorial Staff Advertisement Jomo Kenyatta is a popular name that cannot be forgotten so easily most especially among Kenyans. His name has gone down in history as one of the most prominent personalities in Kenya, East Africa and Africa as a whole. Below are some of the most intriguing facts about Jomo Kenyatta. See Also: 100+ Popular Kenyans that Ever Lived Jomo Kenyatta Background Facts 1. Jomo Kenyatta is well known as the founding father of the Kenyan nation. He was an African statesman and a Nationalist. 2. He was the first Kenyan prime minister and when Kenya gained independence, he became the country’s very first president (1964-1978). Jomo Kenyatta’s Early life 3. Kenyatta was born in a small agricultural village in Gatundu around 1894 though the exact date of his birth is not known, having being born before formal education was introduced in Kenya. 4.

From 1909 to 1912, Kenyatta, then known as Kamau, pursued his elementary education in the Church of Scotland Mission School in Thogoto where he studied the bible, mathematics, English and carpentry. Afterwards, he worked for Nairobi town council in the water department. Jomo Kenyatta’s Personal life 5. He married his first wife Grace Wahu under kikuyu customs in 1919. His son, Uhuru, is now the fourth president of Kenya. Jomo Kenyatta in Politics 6. Kenyatta’s political career started in the 1920s when a new nationalism spirit was growing especially among the Kikuyus who were opposed to some aspects of the European influence and the grabbing of African land by the settlers. He was among the few educated Kenyans and in 1922, he joined the Young Kikuyu Association, and other parties besides until Kenya was granted independence and he assumed the presidency. 7.

Between 1948 to 1951, Kenyatta traveled extensively around the country urging people to work hard and protesting against European settlement in Kenyan land, and demanding independence from colonial rule. 8. In 1952, he and five other leaders were arrested and charged with being members of the outlawed Mau Mau movement. He was sentenced to seven years in prison with hard labor. He was released in 1961 and returned home to receive a hero’s welcome. In 1963, Kenya became an autonomous state and he became its first prime minister. Later in 1964, when the constitution was amended and the office of the prime minister was replaced by a president, Kenyatta became the first president of Kenya. In his lifetime, Kenyatta was a source of strength and inspiration to Kenyans. His leadership was focal during the fight for freedom as the Kenyan freedom fighters decried the injustices of colonialism. He suffered torture and imprisonment during the course of the quest for independence together with other freedom fighters. He was a symbol of unity during the struggle, bringing together the different tribes in Kenya to a common fight. 9.

He was a well- educated intellectual and a scholar, and he authored several books. He was the one who launched the first paper in which indigenous Kenyans voiced their grievances. He also wrote a comprehensive work on the culture and way of life of the kikuyu entitled Facing Mount Kenya. Kenyatta was an ambitious and hardworking man and he is fondly remembered by his appeal to Kenyans to return to the land after the struggle was over. He was highly acclaimed as a visionary leader and a political figure head. As the president, Kenyatta’s leadership led to an improvement in agriculture, tourism, business, health, among other sectors that had mostly being neglected during the struggle thereby reviving the country’s economy. Death of Jomo Kenyatta 10. Kenyatta died peacefully in his sleep on 22nd August 1978. He was accorded a state funeral attended by heads of states. He will be remembered for his leading role towards independence as well as uniting Kenyans after independence and restoring the country’s peace and prosperity. These are a few of the notable facts about Jomo Kenyatta, the former President of Kenya, an African statesman and an international personality.

Kenyatta, Jomo Encyclopedia > History > Biographies > African History: Biographies Jomo Kenyatta Kenyatta, Jomo (jōˈmō kĕnyäˈtə) [ key ], 1893?–1978, African political leader, first president of Kenya (1964–78). A Kikuyu, he was one of the earliest and best-known African nationalist leaders. As secretary of his tribal association (1928), he campaigned for land reform and African political rights. In England he collaborated with other African nationalist students and founded (1946), with Kwame Nkrumah, the Pan-African Federation. Returning (1946) to Kenya, he became president of the Kenya African Union. In 1953, during the Mau Mau uprising, Kenyatta was imprisoned by the British as one of its instigators, then sent to internal exile (1959). Kenyatta was elected president of the newly founded (1960) Kenya African National Union while in exile.

Released in 1961, he participated in negotiations with the British to write a new constitution for Kenya, which became independent in 1963. Kenya became a republic in 1964 with Kenyatta as president. Influential throughout Africa, Kenyatta was intolerant of dissent in Kenya, outlawing some opposition parties in 1969 and establishing a one-party state in 1974. The stability resulting from his leadership attracted foreign investment. He followed a nonaligned foreign policy and died in office. He wrote Facing Mount Kenya (1938) and Suffering without Bitterness (1968). See biography by J. Murray-Brown (1972). The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. Jomo Kenyatta | president of Kenya | Britannica.com president of Kenya Alternative Titles: Johnstone Kamau, Kamau, son of Ngengi Jomo Kenyatta Mary Douglas Leakey Jomo Kenyatta, original name Kamau Ngengi (born c.

1894, Ichaweri, British East Africa [now in Kenya]—died August 22, 1978, Mombasa , Kenya), African statesman and nationalist, the first prime minister (1963–64) and then the first president (1964–78) of independent Kenya . Jomo Kenyatta. John Moss/Black Star Early life Kenyatta was born as Kamau, son of Ngengi, at Ichaweri, southwest of Mount Kenya in the East African highlands. His father was a leader of a small Kikuyu agricultural settlement. About age 10 Kamau became seriously ill with jigger infections in his feet and one leg, and he underwent successful surgery at a newly established Church of Scotland mission. This was his initial contact with Europeans. Fascinated with what he had seen during his recuperation, Kamau ran away from home to become a resident pupil at the mission. He studied the Bible, English, mathematics, and carpentry and paid his fees by working as a houseboy and cook for a European settler. In August 1914 he was baptized with the name Johnstone Kamau.

He was one of the earliest of the Kikuyu to leave the confines of his own culture . And, like many others, Kamau soon left the mission life for the urban attractions of Nairobi . There he secured a job as a clerk in the Public Works Department, and he also adopted the name Kenyatta, the Kikuyu term for a fancy belt that he wore. After serving briefly as an interpreter in the High Court, Kenyatta transferred to a post with the Nairobi Town Council. About this time he married and began to raise a family. The first African political protest movement in Kenya against a white-settler-dominated government began in 1921—the East Africa Association (EAA), led by an educated young Kikuyu named Harry Thuku . Kenyatta joined the following year. One of the EAA’s main purposes was to recover Kikuyu lands lost when Kenya became a British crown colony (1920). The Africans were dispossessed, leaseholds of land were restricted to white settlers, and native reservations were established. In 1925 the EAA disbanded as a result of government pressures, and its members re-formed as the Kikuyu Central Association (KCA).

Three years later Kenyatta became this organization’s general secretary, though he had to give up his municipal job as a consequence. Entrance into full-time politics In May 1928 Kenyatta launched a monthly Kikuyu-language newspaper called Mwigithania (“He Who Brings Together”), aimed at gaining support from all sections of the Kikuyu. The paper was mild in tone, preaching self-improvement, and was tolerated by the government. But soon a new challenge appeared. A British commission recommended a closer union of the three East African territories (Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika). British settler leaders supported the proposal, expecting that internal self-government might follow. To the KCA such a prospect looked disastrous for Kikuyu interests; in February 1929 Kenyatta went to London to testify against the scheme, but in London the secretary of state for colonies refused to meet with him.

In March 1930 Kenyatta wrote an eloquent letter in The Times of London setting out five issues championed by the KCA: (1) security of land tenure and the return of lands allotted to European settlers, (2) increased educational facilities, (3) repeal of hut taxes on women, which forced some to earn money by prostitution, (4) African representation in the Legislative Council, and (5) noninterference with traditional customs. He concluded by saying that the lack of these measures “must inevitably result in a dangerous explosion—the one thing all sane men wish to avoid.” Britannica Stories EU Considers Rules For Robots Again in 1931 Kenyatta’s testimony on the issue of closer union of the three colonies was refused, despite the help of liberals in the House of Commons . In the end, however, the government temporarily abandoned its plan for union. Kenyatta did manage to testify on behalf of Kikuyu land claims in 1932 at hearings of the Carter Land Commission. The commission decided to offer compensation for some appropriated territories but maintained the “white highlands” policy, which restricted the Kikuyu to overcrowded reserves.

Kenyatta subsequently visited the Soviet Union (he spent two years at Moscow State University) and traveled extensively through Europe; on his return to England he studied anthropology under Bronisław Malinowski at the London School of Economics. His thesis was revised and published in 1938 as Facing Mount Kenya , a study of the traditional life of the Kikuyu characterized by both insight and a tinge of romanticism. This book signaled another name change, to Jomo (“Burning Spear”) Kenyatta. Structures of Government: Fact or Fiction? During the 1930s Kenyatta briefly joined the Communist Party, met other black nationalists and writers, and organized protests against the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. The onset of World War II temporarily cut him off from the KCA, which was banned by the Kenya authorities as potentially subversive. Kenyatta maintained himself in England by lecturing and working as a farm labourer, and he continued to produce political pamphlets publicizing the Kikuyu cause.

Britannica Lists & Quizzes Editor Picks: Exploring 10 Types of Basketball Movies Kenyatta helped organize the fifth Pan-African Congress , which met in Manchester, England, on October 15–18, 1945, with W.E.B. Du Bois of the United States in the chair; Kwame Nkrumah , the future leader of Ghana , was also present. Resolutions were passed and plans discussed for mass nationalist movements to demand independence from colonial rule. Return to Kenya Kenyatta returned to Kenya in September 1946 to take up leadership of the newly formed Kenya African Union , of which he was elected president in June 1947. From the Kenya African Teachers College, which he directed as an alternative to government educational institutions, Kenyatta organized a mass nationalist party. But he had to produce tangible results in return for the allegiance of his followers, and the colonial government in Kenya was still dominated by unyielding settler interests.

The “dangerous explosion” among the Kikuyu that he had predicted in 1930 erupted as the Mau Mau rebellion of 1952, which was directed against the presence of European settlers in Kenya and their ownership of land. On October 21, 1952, Kenyatta was arrested on charges of having directed the Mau Mau movement. Despite government efforts to portray Kenyatta’s trial as a criminal case, it received worldwide publicity as a political proceeding. In April 1953 Kenyatta was sentenced to a seven-year imprisonment for “managing the Mau Mau terrorist organization.” He denied the charge then and afterward, maintaining that the Kenya African Union’s political activities were not directly associated with Mau Mau violence. The British government responded to African demands by gradually steering the country toward African majority rule. In 1960 the principle of one man, one vote was conceded.

Kenyan nationalist leaders such as Tom Mboya and Oginga Odinga organized the Kenya African National Union (KANU) and elected Kenyatta (still in detention despite having completed his sentence) president in absentia; they refused to cooperate with the British while Kenyatta was detained. In a press conference Kenyatta promised that “Europeans would find a place in the future Kenya provided they took their place as ordinary citizens.” Connect with Britannica Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Pinterest Kenyatta was released in August 1961, and, at the London Conference early in 1962, he negotiated the constitutional terms leading to Kenya’s independence. KANU won the preindependence election in May 1963, forming a provisional government, and Kenya celebrated its independence on December 12, 1963, with Kenyatta as prime minister. A year later Kenya became a one-party republic when the main opposition party went into voluntary liquidation. At the same time, Kenyatta became the first president of Kenya under a new constitutional amendment .

In this office he headed a strong central government, and successive constitutional amendments increased his authority, giving him, for instance, the power to arrest political opponents and detain them without trial if he considered them dangerous to public order—a power he used effectively though infrequently. To forestall any tribally based opposition, Kenyatta consistently appointed members of different ethnic groups to his government, though he relied most heavily on his fellow Kikuyu. In general, Kenya enjoyed remarkable political stability under Kenyatta’s rule, though conflicts within KANU’s political leadership did occasionally break out because of ideological differences and tribal rivalries. Kenyatta early on rejected socialist calls for the nationalization of property and instead preached a doctrine of personal and entrepreneurial effort, symbolized by his slogan “Harambee,” or “Pulling together.” Besides relying heavily on a free-market economy, he encouraged foreign investment from Western and other countries. Largely as a result of his policies, Kenya’s gross national product grew almost fivefold from 1971 to 1981, and its rate of economic growth was among the highest on the continent in the first two decades after independence.

But though economic growth benefited large numbers of people, it also led to tremendous disparities of wealth, much of which was in the hands of Kenyatta’s family and close associates. This concentration of wealth, along with an extremely high rate of population growth, meant that most Kenyans did not realize a correspondingly large increase in their living standards under Kenyatta’s leadership. Trending Topics Cache Numismatics - All Things Numismatic Date: A.D. 1969 Obverse: Portrait head left - THE FIRST PRESIDENT OF KENYA - MZEE JOMO KENYATA Reverse: Shield and crossed speers with lions to each side - REPUBLIC OF KENYA 50 CENTS 1969 Jomo Kenyatta was born in or around 1889. He was born a member of the Kikuyu tribe in what was then british controlled East Africa. He was given the first of many names he would use in his long life, Kamau wa Ngengi. As a child he assisted his grandfather who was a tribal medicine man and attended classes at a Scottish Mission at Thogoto, west of Nairobi.

In 1914 He converted to Christianity and took the name John Peter. By the first world war he was working as a clerk and living with relatives among the Maasai under the name Johnston Kamau. In 1920 he married his first wife, Grace Wahu, who bore him a son, Peter Muigai, and a daughter, Margaret Wambui. He took a position in the Nairobi city council water department in 1921, a position he would hold for five years. He began his political career in 1925 as one of the leaders of the Kikuyu Central Association (KCA). In 1928 he was chosen to appear before the Hilton Young Commission in Nairobi to represent the Kikuyu people as an advocate in their land disputes. It was also in this year that he became the editor of 'Muigwithania', a newspaper dedicated to Kikuyu issues. The KCA sent him to England in 1929 to lobby on behalf of the Kikuyu and their land disputes. While there he wrote articles for British newspapers concerning these issues, the next year he took time to tour some of Europe and Russia.

After returning to Africa briefly, he departed for England again to present a written petition to parliament and give a deposition to the Morris Carter Land Commission. He attended Woodbrooke Quaker College in Birmingham for a time before traveling to Moscow where he briefly studied economics. Returning to Britain he attended the University of London where he studied economics and anthropology. By 1938 he had completed his First book about Kikuyu customs entitled 'Facing Mount Kenya' which was published under his new and final name, Jomo Kenyatta. Jomo means "burning spear" and Kenyatta refers to the beaded belt, or kinyata, that he always wore. During World War II Kenyatta worked on a farm in Britain and married his second wife, Edna Clarke, who bore him a son, Peter Magana, in 1942. He continued his work as an advocate for his people and Africa in general joining with other African leaders to take part in the 5th Pan African Congress held at Manchester in 1945 where they demanded full independence for Africa. He returned to Africa in 1946 where he married his third wife, Grace Wanjiku.

He served as the principal of the Kenya Teachers College and founded the Pan-African Federation along with Kwame Nkrumah who would become the first prime minister of Ghana. In 1947 he became the president of the Kenya African Union (KAU), a political party that sought to unify Kenyaï¿½s tribes. While urging his followers to act with discipline and restraint, he fought for African voting rights, the elimination of racial discrimination and the return of tribal lands. Grace Wanjiku died in 1950 giving birth to his daughter, Jane Wambui. In 1951 he married his forth and last wife, the popular Ngina Muhoho (commonly referred to as Mama Muhoho). In 1952 he was arrested for being involved in the Mau Mau Uprising, a revolt by mostly Kikuyu people who rose in armed rebellion against long simmering political, economic and racial tensions that festered under colonial rule. A state of emergency was declared and Kenyatta was indicted on the charges of "managing and being a member" of the Mau Mau Society.

He was tried and sentenced to 7 years in prison with hard labor and to indefinite restrictions thereafter. Nine years after his arrest, he was freed from all restrictions. Whether he was in fact a leader of the Mau Mau Rebellion is still a matter of debate but it cannot be denied that they echoed much of his own beliefs and fought for similar goals. Without doubt the revolution caused a permanent rift and was the first real step towards independence. Kenyatta's arrest and imprisonment as a leader of this rebellion made him a martyr for the cause. He was released in 1961 and reentered society as a hero, he was voted President of the Kenya African National Union and a month later he headed a KANU delegation to London to advocate Kenyan independence. In elections held in May 1963, KANU won 83 seats out of 124, and on June 1, 1963, Kenyatta became the first Prime Minister of a self-governing Kenya. On December 12, 1964, Kenya officially became a Republic within the Commonwealth with Kenyatta as its first President.

Around this time, many people began referring to him as 'Mzee' (Swahili for Elder). Kenyatta's major stated goals were unity, economic prosperity, and restitution. Looking to bring about reconciliation between tribes, and between tribal natives and white settlers, he assured white and Asian immigrants they would still be welcome in the new nation. Europeans continued to serve in his government and he sought to kept a favorable relationship with former colonial masters. Britain aided the new nation with money and support in the form of troops which remained in the country and helped the fledgling government against Somali rebels (Shiftas) in the northeast, an army mutiny in Nairobi in 1964, and a subsequent mutiny in 1971. Contrary to this, his major support was the tribal African native population, the Majority Kikuyu specifically, and they were his main concern. He initiated long over due land reform that called for a fair redistribution of lands, a life long goal of his fulfilled. He opened up trade with neighboring nations, pursued a pro-west, anti-communist policy, and oversaw Kenya's admission into the United Nations.

Kenya enjoyed political stability under much of his administration which attracted foreign investments and led to economic progress as well as agricultural, industrial and educational initiatives. Highly intelligent and charismatic, he became one of the most influential political figures in Africa, one of the earliest and best-known African nationalist leaders. His tenure was not without its critics who would claim his 15 year administration was far from benevolent. Those critics argue that his land reforms left the president as the largest land owner in his nation with large parcels of land being given to his relatives and friends, referred to by some as the "Kiambu Mafia." Although in general he took a pro-west stance in foreign policy and business, he was a fierce proponent for native tribal Africans and the preservation of native African culture in his internal policy. He discouraged the use of English saying: "The basis of any independent government is a national language, and we can no longer continue aping our former colonizers ... those who feel they cannot do without English can as well pack up and go." To appeal to his native supporters, he took the egregious step taken by the dictator of Uganda, Idi Amin, and expelled all Asian immigrants from his country.

Regarding his former colonial masters he is quoted as saying "When the Missionaries arrived, the Africans had the Land and the Missionaries had the Bible. They taught how to pray with our eyes closed. When we opened them, they had the land and we had the Bible." His authoritarian policies drew criticism. He exercised almost complete control over the workings of government and did not tolerate dissent. Upon his re-election in 1966 he changed the constitution to extend his already far reaching executive powers. He outlawed most opposition parties in 1969 establishing KANU as the only viable political party, essentially making Kenya a one-party state. He ran unopposed and was re-elected in 1974. He died in office on August 22 1978 in Mombassa at the age of 89. He is remembered by many as "Baba Wa Taifa" (Father of the Nation), a unifier, one of the greatest figures in African history, his tenure a Kenyan golden age. Others see him as a totalitarian dictator whose policies, in the end, caused instability and far reaching negative consequences. He was succeeded by Daniel arap Moi.

His son Peter Muigai Kenyatta later became a deputy minister and his son Uhuru Kenyatta is currently an opposition leader. Jomo Kenyatta was a prolific writer authoring five books: Facing Mount Kenya (1938) , My people of Kikuyu and the life of Chief Wangombe (1944), Suffering Without Bitterness (biography 1968), Kenya: The land of conflict (1971), and The challenge of Uhuru (1971) Jomo Kenyatta with Thurgood Marshall who helped draft the First Constitution of a newly independant Kenya. copyright © 2014 cache • all rights reserved Jomo Kenyatta (Politician) - Pics, Videos, Dating, & News Jomo Kenyatta First Prime Minister and First President of Kenya Male Born 1894 Jomo Kenyatta served as the first Prime Minister (1963â1964) and President (1964â1978) of Kenya. He is considered the founding father of the Kenyan nation.

In Kenya, Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Kenyatta International Conference Centre, Nairobi's main street and main streets in many Kenyan cities and towns, numerous schools, two Universities, the country's main referral hospital, markets, and housing estates are named after him.… Read More related links Tom Morello On Rage And Rebellion Vancouver Sun Google News - Aug 29, 2011 'His father was Kenyan and a returned to that country to help fight for independence: Morello&#39;s great uncle, <mark>Jomo Kenyatta</mark>, was Kenya&#39;s first elected president. His mother -- &quot;the most radical member of the Morello family,&quot; he says -- was a teacher who' Kenya: Lasalle And Gituru Reach Copa Cola Quarter Finals All Africa.Com Google News - Aug 25, 2011 'Abdinoor Wario pulled one back for Taqwa at the <mark>Jomo Kenyatta</mark> playground. Mombasa booked the last berth in the quarters after a 2-1 win over Mwombo.

Yusuf Abdulhalim opened the scoring for Mombasa before Shef Ali added the second in the 80th minute' Kenya: Catholic Bishop Thanks The Government All Africa.Com Google News - Aug 24, 2011 'The Catholic bishop, current Chair, Bishops&#39; Commission for Liturgy, was speaking to CISA at Nairobi&#39;s Holy Family Minor Basilica on August 22 after he conducted a memorial Mass for the late Mzee <mark>Jomo Kenyatta</mark>, the country&#39;s first president,' Sudanese Killed In A Nakuru Clan Fight The Standard Google News - Aug 23, 2011 'The deceased who was aged 20 and a student at <mark>Jomo Kenyatta</mark> High School died on the spot after he sustained deep cuts on the head. Early this month, the assailants attacked the same home injuring four people among them the deceased, as they headed home' Learn about the memorable moments in the evolution of Jomo Kenyatta.

CHILDHOOD 1891 Birth However, at least one biography gives his date of birth as 20 October 1891, a date so precise as to likely be apocryphal. … Read More His father died while Kamau was very young, after which, as was the custom, he was adopted by his uncle Ngengi, who also inherited his mother, to become Kamau wa Ngengi. When his mother died during childbirth, young Kamau moved from Ng'enda to Muthiga to live with his medicine man grandfather KÅ©ngÅ© wa Magana, to whom he became very close.<br /><br /> He left home to become a resident pupil at the Church of Scotland Mission (CSM) at Thogoto, close to Kikuyu, about 12 miles north-west of Nairobi. He studied amongst other subjects: the Bible, English, mathematics and carpentry. He paid the school fees by working as a houseboy and cook for a white settler living nearby.<br /><br /> In his late teens, having completed his mission school education, he became an apprentice carpenter.

The following year he underwent initiation ceremonies, including circumcision, to become a member of the kihiu-mwiri age group. Read Less TWENTIES 1914 23 Years Old In 1914, he converted to Christianity, assuming the name John Peter, which he then changed to Johnstone Kamau. … Read More He left the mission later that year to seek employment.<br /><br /> He first worked as an apprentice carpenter on a sisal farm in Thika, under the tutelage of John Cook, who had been in charge of the building programme at Thogoto. During the First World War, Kikuyu were forced into work by the British authorities. To avoid this, he lived with Kamba relatives in Narok, where he worked as a clerk for an Asian contractor. Read Less 1920 29 Years Old In 1920 he married Grace Wahu, under Kikuyu customs. … Read More When Grace got pregnant, his church elders ordered him to get married before a European magistrate, and undertake the appropriate church rites. On 20 November 1920 Kamau's first son Peter Muigai, was born.

Kamau served as an interpreter in the Nairobi High Court, and ran a store out of his Dagoretti home during this period. Read Less THIRTIES 1922 - 1924 2 More Events 1922 31 Years Old He eventually married Grace Wahu in a civil ceremony in 1922. … Read More Grace Wahu lived in the Dagoretti home until her death in April 2007 at the age of around 100.<br /><br /> In 1922 Kamau began working, as a store clerk and water-meter reader for the Nairobi Municipal Council Public Works Department, once again under John Cook who was the Water Superintendent. Meter reading helped him meet many Kenyan-Asians at their homes who would become important allies later on. Read Less 1924 33 Years Old He entered politics after taking interest in the political activities of James Beauttah and Joseph Kang'ethe the leaders of the Kikuyu Central Association (KCA). He joined KCA in 1924 and rose up the ranks of the association. … Read More Eventually he began to edit the movement's Kikuyu newspaper.

Read Less Show Less By 1928 he had become the KCA's general secretary. In 1928 he launched a monthly Kikuyu-language newspaper called MuÄ©gwithania (Reconciler) which aimed to unite all sections of the Kikuyu. … Read More The paper, supported by an Asian-owned printing press, had a mild and unassuming tone, and was tolerated by the colonial government. He also made a presentation on Kikuyu land problems before the Hilton Young Commission in Nairobi in the same year. Read Less 1929 38 Years Old In 1929 the KCA sent Kenyatta to London to lobby on its behalf with regard to Kikuyu tribal land affairs. … Read More Using the name Johnstone Kenyatta, he published articles and letters to the editor in The Times and the Manchester Guardian. Read Less 1930 39 Years Old He returned to Kenya on 24 September 1930 and was welcomed at Mombasa by his wife Wahu and James Beauttah.

… Read More He then took part, on the side of traditionalists, in the debate on the issue of female genital mutilation of girls. He later worked for Kikuyu Independent Schools in Githunguri. Read Less FORTIES 1931 40 Years Old He returned to London in 1931 and enrolled in Woodbrooke Quaker College in Birmingham. … Read More Discouraged by the lack of official response to the land claims he was putting forward, he began an association with British Communists, who published articles he wrote in their publications. In 1932 to 1933, he briefly studied economics in Moscow at the Comintern School, KUTVU (University of the Toilers of the East) but left after the Soviet Union (worried about Hitler's growing power and seeing Britain and France as potential allies) withdrew its support for the movement against British and French colonial rule in Africa. Read Less 1934 43 Years Old In 1934, Kenyatta enrolled at University College London and from 1935 studied social anthropology under BronisÅaw Malinowski at the London School of Economics (LSE).

… Read More He was a member of the executive committee of the International African Friends of Abyssinia (formed in 1935), and was an active member of the International African Service Bureau, a pan-Africanist, anti-colonial organisation that had formed around former international communist leader George Padmore, who had also become disillusioned with the Soviet Union and himself moved to London. Kenyatta read the draft of the Kenya section of Padmore's new book, How Britain Rules Africa (1936). Read Less 1938 47 Years Old With the editorial help of an English editor named Dinah Stock who became a close friend, Kenyatta published his own book, Facing Mount Kenya (his revised LSE thesis), in 1938 under his new name, Jomo Kenyatta. … Read More The name "Jomo" is translated in English to "Burning Spear", while the name "Kenyatta" was said to be a reference to the beaded Masai belt he wore, and later to "the Light of Kenya".

After the war, he wrote a pamphlet (with some content contributed by Padmore), Kenya: The Land of Conflict, published by the International African Service Bureau under the imprint Panaf Service.<br /><br /> During this period, Kenyatta was an active member of a group of African, Caribbean and American intellectuals who included Dudley Thompson, George Padmore, C. L. R. James, Eric Williams, I. T. A. Wallace-Johnson, Chris Braithwaite, Amy Ashwood Garvey, Paul Robeson and Ralph Bunche. During his presidency, a number of streets in Nairobi were named after some of these early black-emancipation intellectuals.<br /><br /> Kenyatta acted as an extra in the film Sanders of the River (1934), directed by Zoltan Korda and starring Paul Robeson. Read Less FIFTIES 1942 - 1945 2 More Events 1942 51 Years Old In 1942, he married an Englishwoman, Edna Clarke. He also published My People of Kikuyu and the Life of Chief Wang'ombe, a history shading into legend.

Edna gave birth to their son, Peter Magana, in 1943. 1945 54 Years Old In 1945, with other prominent African nationalist figures, such as Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Kenyatta helped organise the fifth Pan-African Congress, held in Britain. 1946 55 Years Old Kenyatta returned to Kenya in 1946, after almost 15 years abroad. … Read More He married for the third time, to Grace Wanjiku, Senior Chief Koinange's daughter, and sister to Mbiyu Koinange (who later became a lifelong confidant and was one of the most powerful politicians during Kenyatta's presidency).<br /><br /> Kenyatta then went into teaching, becoming principal of Kenya Teachers College Githunguri. Read Less 1947 56 Years Old In 1947, he was elected president of the Kenya African Union (KAU). … Read More He began to receive death threats from white settlers after his election.

Read Less 1948 57 Years Old From 1948 to 1951 he toured and lectured around the country condemning idleness, robbery, urging hard work while campaigning for the return of land given to white settlers and for independence within three years. … Read More His wife, Grace Wanjiku, died in childbirth in 1950 as she gave birth to daughter Jane Wambui, who survived. Read Less LATE ADULTHOOD 1951 - 1960 6 More Events 1951 60 Years Old In 1951 Kenyatta married Ngina Muhoho, daughter of Chief Muhoho. … Read More She was popularly referred to as Mama Ngina and was independent Kenya's First Lady, when Kenyatta was elected President.<br /><br /> The Mau Mau Rebellion began in 1951 and KAU was banned, and a state of emergency was declared on 20 October 1952.

Read Less 1952 61 Years Old Kenyatta was arrested in October 1952 and indicted with five others on the charges of "managing and being a member" of the Mau Mau Society, a radical anti-colonial movement engaged in rebellion against Kenya's British rulers. … Read More The accused were known as the "Kapenguria Six".<br /><br /> The trial lasted five months: Rawson Macharia, the main prosecution witness, turned out to have perjured himself; the judgeâwho had only recently been awarded an unusually large pension, and who maintained secret contact with the then colonial Governor of Kenya Evelyn Baring during the trialâwas openly hostile to the defendants' cause. Read Less 1953 62 Years Old The defence, led by British barrister D. N. Pritt, argued that the white settlers were trying to scapegoat Kenyatta and that there was no evidence tying him to the Mau Mau. The court sentenced Kenyatta on 8 April 1953 to seven years' imprisonment with hard labour and indefinite restriction thereafter.

… Read More The subsequent appeal was refused by the British Privy Council in 1954. Read Less 1959 68 Years Old Kenyatta remained in prison until 1959, after which he was detained in Lodwar, a remote part of Kenya. … Read More The state of emergency was lifted on 12 January 1960. Read Less BBC ON THIS DAY | 27 | 1963: Kenyatta to be Kenya's first premier About This Site | Text Only 1963: Kenyatta to be Kenya's first premier Jomo Kenyatta is certain to become prime minister after his party, Kenya African Nation Union, won the country's first general election. Thousands of Kenyans ran through the rain-drenched streets of Nairobi tonight cheering at news of the results. Let there be forgiveness Jomo Kenyatta Latest figures show KANU has a majority in the House of Representatives - with 58 seats - over Ronald Ngala's Kenya African Democratic Union which has 28 seats. The only white candidate, Edward Hawkins, has lost his deposit.

In an address to the nation, Mr Kenyatta, aged 73 and known by his fellow Kikuyu as "Burning Spear", called for tribal and racial differences to be buried in favour of national unity under "the principles of democratic African socialism". He said although his government aimed to free itself from British colonialism, it would not try to avenge past injustices. "We are not to look to the past - racial bitterness, the denial of fundamental rights, the suppression of our culture... Let there be forgiveness," he said. Tomorrow, he will be summoned by the British Governor, Malcolm MacDonald, to form a government in Government House. "Leader to darkness and death" It was here just three years ago that Mr Kenyatta was described by former governor Sir Patrick Renison as "the African leader to darkness and death". Ten years ago, Mr Kenyatta, was jailed and later sent into internal exile by the British for his alleged involvement in the Mau Mau movement, a secret society of the Kikuyu tribe bent on achieving independence from Britain.

More than 14,000 Africans and Asians and 95 whites died between 1952 and 1957 during the Mau Mau rebellion. The pressure of other African states for independence led to Mr Kenyatta's release in 1961 after which he discussed a new constitution for Kenya with the British. Former Kenyan President, Jomo Kenyatta, dies | South African History Online South African History Online Home » Former Kenyan President, Jomo Kenyatta, dies Former Kenyan President, Jomo Kenyatta, dies Jomo Kenyatta Tuesday, 22 August 1978 Jomo Kenyatta was born in Kamau, Kenya, on 20 October 1891 and grew up in Ichaweri, southwest of Mount Kenya. Kenyatta ran away from home to become a pupil at the Church of Scotland Mission, where he studied English, Mathematics, the Bible and carpentry. In 1914, he was baptised Johnstone Kamau and left the mission for Nairobi. In Nairobi he adopted the name "Kenyatta" and worked in the Public Works Department.

In 1922, he joined the first anti-settler protest movement, the East Africa Association (EAA). However, this organisation was banned in 1925, and he joined the Kikuyu Central Association (KCA), of which he later became general secretary. The aim of the KCA was to address the colonial challenges faced by the Kikuyu. In 1929, Kenyatta went to London, and only returned to Kenya 15 years later. He became the principal of the Kenya Teachers College on his return and in 1947 was elected the president of Kenya African Union (KAU). He was later linked to the Mau-Mau Society, a radical anti-colonial movement that staged the Mau-Mau Rebellion , a peasant revolt against white colonial rule. He was arrested in 1952 for allegedly leading the group. Following a five month trial, he was imprisoned until 1959 and detained until 1961. Kenyatta became Prime Minister in 1963 and the President of Kenya in 1964. The opposition party, KADU, was dissolved, and Kenya became a one party state.

As he had been the sole presidential candidate in each election during his term of office, Kenyatta was re-elected three times. His leadership was marked by corruption and nepotism, and he is said to have been the largest landowner in Kenya. In 1966, Kenyatta had a heart attack and was plagued by ill health until his death on 22 August 1978. He was buried on parliament grounds and was succeeded by his vice president, Daniel arap-Moi . The Mau-Mau Rebellion, with which Jomo Kenyatta was frequently associated with, served to inspire protest action in many parts of the African continent, including South Africa. This is because at the time of the rebellion, the Malan administration had began to implement its repressive laws. Related: Jomo Kenyatta Facts LINK / CITE ADD TO WORD LIST Jomo Kenyatta Facts Jomo Kenyatta Quotes Jomo Kenyatta (1891-1978) was a Kenyan statesman and the dominant figure in the development of African nationalism in East Africa. His long career in public life made him the undisputed leader of the African people of Kenya in their struggle for independence.

In the modern political history of Africa very few of the representatives of African peoples have had the opportunity for a sustained position of leadership. The lack of a Western education and the limiting horizons of tribal politics hindered the rise of an African political elite, especially in the British East African possessions, in the years before World War II. Kenyatta is one of the outstanding exceptions of this process; his public career of over 40 years established him as one of the most significant African leaders of the twentieth century. Jomo Kenyatta, who was known as a child as Johnstone Kamau Ngengi, was born, according to most biographies, on October 20, 1891 at Ichaweri. There have always been questions about his birth date created by the unusual way the Kikuyu kept records and Kenyatta's own convenient ability to deny his correct age. His parents were Muigai, a Kikuyu farmer, and Wambui. Little is known of the early years of his life. He was baptized in August 1914 and received the first 5 years of his education at the Church of Scotland Mission in Kikuyu near Nairobi.

From 1921 to 1926 he was employed by the water department of the Nairobi Town Council. He also served as an interpreter to the Kenya Supreme Court. It is said that his use of the name Kenyatta dates from this period, deriving from the Kikuyu-language designation for the beaded workers' belt he wore while at work called a mucibi wa kinyata. Early Political Career In the Kenya of the 1920s the emerging nationalism of the African inhabitants was dominated by the dynamic Kikuyu peoples, the country's largest tribal grouping. They had proved receptive to some aspects of European culture, especially in education, and they began to attempt using the techniques of British democracy to secure their desired goals. A particularly vital problem to the Kikuyu was the question of land ownership within the colony; they held that the British had unjustly seized much Kikuyu land. Various political organizations, such as the Young Kikuyu Association and the East African Association, were formed to advance their case. Kenyatta, as one of the few educated Kikuyu, joined the Young Kikuyu Association in 1922.

British opposition, however, prevented these organizations from achieving any success. The Kikuyu Central Association was created from the Young Kikuyu Association and the East Africa Association and, like all the former groupings, needed men trained in English. In 1927 Kenyatta, one of the elite as an educated Kikuyu, was asked to become its general secretary, a position which he accepted in early 1928. His office entailed work to encourage the growth of a modern political consciousness among the Kikuyu and thus to develop a broad basis of support for the organization. This required extensive traveling throughout the extensive Kikuyu territory. During 1929 the organization decided to issue its own publication, the Kikuyu-language monthly Mwigwithania (The Reconciler), and Kenyatta was selected as its editor. It was probably the first newspaper produced by Africans in Kenya. Residence in Britain Kenyatta's chance for a broader role arrived in 1928, when he testified before the Hilton-Young Commission, which had been sent to East Africa to investigate the project for a federation of British East African Territories.

In February 1929 the Kikuyu Central Association decided to send Kenyatta to London to testify against the proposed union of Kenya, Tanganyika, and Uganda. He was refused an opportunity before the commission, but the experience of visiting Europe was valuable. He became involved with some radical anti-colonial organizations and traveled to the communist-sponsored International Trade Union of Negro Workers in Hamburg. He also traveled to Berlin and spent several weeks in the Soviet Union in August 1929. He returned to Kenya in the fall of 1930 and gained permission for the Kikuyu to control their own independent schools despite opposition from the Christian missionary schools. In May 1931 he and Parmenas Githendu Mockerie were dispatched to London by the Kikuyu Central Association to testify before a select parliamentary committee studying the East Africa federation plans by the Colonial Office. He remained in Europe for 15 years, married an English woman, and had a son, Peter. He studied English at the Quaker College of Woodbrooke and at Selly Oak in Birmingham.

Among the positions Kenyatta held was that of assistant in phonetics at London University's School of Oriental and African Studies from 1933 to 1936. In 1936 Kenyatta enrolled at the London School of Economics as a postgraduate student. In the course of his studies he presented a series of papers to the seminar directed by the eminent anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski. They were published in 1938 as Facing Mount Kenya. This work, which has been labeled as "a text in cultural nationalism" since it was one of the earliest publications by an African discussing his own culture without apology, made considerable impact. Kenyatta asserted the right of Africans to speak for themselves, and not only to be discussed by foreign anthropologists or missionaries and, more important, he declared that Africans should be proud of their own cultural heritage. He especially developed his case around the then important issue of female circumcision, currently under attack by Christian missionaries, demonstrating the relevance of the ceremony to the total Kikuyu culture and indicating how Europeans had ignored this ritual aspect of the study of any African cultural facet. Facing Mount Kenya remains a classic among studies relating to the Kikuyu way of life.

When World War II began, Kenyatta worked on a farm in Surrey and lectured to the British army and the Worker's Educational Association on Africa. He became intensely active in general African movements; along with other pioneers of African nationalism, including Kwame Nkrumah and George Padmore, he founded the Pan African Federation and organized the fifth Pan African Congress at Manchester in March 1945 with the theme "Africa for the Africans." One great advantage of these long years away from Kenya was to isolate Kenyatta from the many divisions and rivalries of his homeland's nationalist movements, brought about by the frustrations imposed on Africans trying to organize in the British-dominated territory. Politics in Kenya Thus when Kenyatta returned to Kenya in September 1946, he was generally recognized by politically conscious Africans as the most effective leader for their new moves toward greater freedom. Many Europeans reacted also by regarding him as a potentially effective threat to their position of privilege. Kenyatta immediately began organizing a political movement which would be represented all over Kenya. In June 1947 he became president of the most effective African political movement to that time, the Kenya African Union.

His efforts to encourage non-kikuyu to join the movement were successful and membership in the Kenyan African Union increased by over 100,000. In 1947 Kenyatta also accepted the position of principal of the independent Teachers' Training College at Githanguri, thus bringing another facet of Kenyan protest under his influence. But despite his considerable success, the European settler dominated government of Kenya managed to keep control of the country's evolution. Many Africans therefore became increasingly frustrated by their lack of progress, and extremist groups began to prepare for a direct challenge to European domination. Trial and Imprisonment Kenyatta was unable to control the extremists, and by 1952 the violence had risen to such a level, particularly in the so-called Mau Movement, that the British reacted by declaring a state of emergency. Kenyatta was arrested on October 20, the government considering that if the leader of the Kenya African Union were removed from political life the Mau Mau crisis, which had claimed nearly 200 European and 12,000 Mau Mau lives, would cease. They planned no reforms to meet African aspirations.

A world-famous trial for Kenyatta was held at the remote location of Kapenguria in November. In conditions of intense military security, the government aimed to prove that Mau Mau was a part of the Kenya African Union and Kenyatta its leader. The judgment of the court in April 1953 gave Kenyatta and five other defendants the maximum sentence of 7 years at hard labor, but the trial was conducted in such a manner that many doubted the justice of the sentence. Achieving Independence During the state of emergency all Kenya-wide African political organizations had been restricted. But as the British began to regain control of affairs after 1955, African parties were allowed to reemerge at the local level, a decision which harmed future African developments by encouraging separatism among African leaders. Nevertheless, the Mau Mau crisis had forced the British government to realize the futility of continuing the evolution of Kenya through the existing colonial government. The Colonial Office took a firm direction in moving the country toward independence through a series of new constitutions (in 1954, 1957, and 1960) designed to increase African participation in governing their homeland.

But although African leaders seized the advantages offered to them, continually striving to wrest control from the European settlers, they made Kenyatta's participation in any government leading to independence one of their essential demands. Kenyatta was freed from the desert prison of Lokitaung in northwestern Kenya in 1959 but was restricted to house arrest for two years in the Northern Frontier District town of Lodwar. In March 1960 the Kenya African National Union was formed and elected Kenyatta as its president in absentia. On August 14, 1961, after nine years of detention, Kenyatta assumed the presidency of the Kenya African National Union party. On January 12, 1962, Kenyatta was elected to the Kenyan Legislative Assembly to represent the constituency of Fort Hall. On April 10, he agreed to serve in a coalition government as minister of state for constitutional affairs and economic planning. In the May 28, 1963 elections Kenyatta led his African National Union party to victory. Kenyatta was invited to form a government and became self-governing Kenya's first prime minister on June 1.

He took steps to reassure the European farmers about their future and also appealed to the freedom fighters and members of the Mau Mau to lay down their arms and join the new nation. On December 12, 1963 Kenya became the 34th African state to gain independence. The duke of Edinburgh was in attendance as the colonial flag was lowered at midnight and the new Kenyan flag raised. Ruling Kenya The first years of Kenyan independence were dominated by restructuring and rebuilding the nation. In November of 1964 Kenyatta convinced the rival Kenya African Democratic Union and its leader, Ronald Ngala, to dissolve and join Kenyatta's Kenyan African National Union party to form a single chambered National Assembly. Ngala had been Kenyatta's greatest political rival because his party stood for regional autonomy while Kenyatta's party stood for a strong central government. The European settler problem disappeared, since most of those antagonistic to African rule left the country, but the problem of integrating the various African and Indian citizens of the new republic continued. The greatest political challenge to Kenyatta was a dispute with Dginga Odinga, the leader of the powerful Luo tribe.

Odinga had served as home affairs minister and later as vice president. Odinga was accused by other cabinet ministers of accepting financial aid from Communist China and using the money to buy influence with members of parliament. In March 1964, Kenyatta, who had given Odinga the benefit of the doubt for past loyalty, finally abolished Odinga's position as deputy president of the ruling Kenya African National Union party. In 1966 Odinga resigned as Kenya's national vice president and formed the Kenya Peoples' Union as a leftist opposition party. On July 5, 1969, Tom Mboya, a popular Luo politician, was assassinated by a Kikuyu. The assassin was tried and executed, but Luo anger still ran high. In October 1969, Kenyatta's appearance in Luo territory set off riots and threatened to divide the new nation. After initially ignoring the problem, Kenyatta imposed a curfew, detained Odinga and his leaders, and banned the Kenya Peoples' Union party. Kenyatta moved the election date to early December 1969 and declared anyone could run for a seat if they were a member of the Kenya African National party.

Several members of Kenyatta's party were defeated, but his government survived the election. Despite Luo anger and rumors of military plots, Kenya regained a surface calm which continued through Kenyatta's presidency. Kenyatta made Kenya a showcase nation among the former African colonial states. Leading his nation on a relatively conservative course, he provided for peace and prosperity in his nation while improving health, agriculture, tourism, business, and manufacturing. Although Kenyatta utilized both communist and capitalist financial and technical aid, which helped Kenya take the lead in economic development in East Africa, he came down heavily and communist efforts to infiltrate the country. Kenyatta followed a nonaligned, but pro-western, foreign policy and pursued an orthodox African policy towards the apartheid tactics of Rhodesia and South Africa. In 1971 he became the unmitigated leader in East Africa and achieved his greatest foreign policy success when he helped to settle a border dispute between Uganda and Tanzania. Kenyatta died peacefully in Mombassa on August 22, 1978. His successor, Daniel arap Moi, was Kenya's vice president.

The transition of power was seamless and Moi suggested a continuation in Kenyatta's policies by calling his own program Nyayo or "footsteps." Further Reading on Jomo Kenyatta Kenyatta's own writings include: Facing Mount Kenya (1938); My People of Kikuyu and the Life of Chief Wangombe (1944); Kenya: The Land of Conflict (1944); and Harambee! (1964); an account of the early life and times of Kenyatta and of Mau Mau groups is by Carl G. Rosberg, Jr., and John Nottingham, The Myth of "Mau Mau": Nationalism in Kenya (1966); for general historical background are Kenya, a Political History: The Colonial Period (1963), by George Bennett; and History of East Africa, vol. 2 (1965) by Vincent T. Harlow and E. M.

Chilver; the life and career of Kenyatta is traced in the Anthony Howarth and David Koff film Kenyatta (1979); Kenyatta is also listed with a brief biography in the A&E Television Networks online biography at (1997); and mentioned in relationship to Kenya's present government in the JamboKenya homepage at sbwm.erols.com. Kenya is granted independence | South African History Online South African History Online Home » Kenya is granted independence Kenya is granted independence Kenyan Flag Thursday, 12 December 1963 Kenya gained its independence from Britain with Jomo Kenyatta as the country’s first Prime Minister. The Union Jack was replaced by the black, red and green flag of the new nation. This followed the first all inclusive elections on 27 May 1963. A year later Kenya was declared a Republic. The campaign for independence in Kenya dates back to the 1940s before Kenyatta became the leader of the Kenya African Union (KAU) in 1947 and birth of the Mau Mau rebel movement.

In 1952 in response to the Mau Mau rebellion, the government declared a state of emergency which lasted for eight years. During the state of emergency a number of Mau Mau operatives, including Kenyatta and Achieng Aneko were arrested. In 1953, Kenyatta was charged with leading the Mau Mau rebellion and sentenced to seven years in prison. When Kenya became a Republic on 12 December 1964, Kenyatta was named Kenya's first president, with Jaramogi Oginga Odinga as his vice-president. References: • The New York Times," Kenya Gains Independence ",From: The New York Times,Available at: learning.blogs.nytimes.com [Accessed : 25 November 2013]

Question: Jomo Kenyatta became the first president of which African country in 1964?
Answer: Kenya