Jomo Kenyatta

Jomo Kenyatta was born in Ngenda, Kenya in 1891. A member of the Kikuyu tribe, he was named Kamau wa Ngengi and later christened Johnstone Kamau by Scottish missionaries. He adopted the name of Jomo Kenyatta in the 1920's taking his first named from the Kikuyu word for "burning spear" and his last name from the beared belt that he often wore. Kenyatta became active in Keynan politics in the early 1920's as a member of the nationalist Kikuyu Centrant Association. By the end of the 1920's be became the nation's most infulential spokesman for freedom from colonial rule against Great Britian. Sent to England and Europe to study and garner support for his cause, he spend most of the 1930's at universities in England and the USSR. Although he remained in the UK during World War II, he kept in close contact with his followers back home. In 1946, Kenyatta returned to Kenya and was elected chairman of the Kenya African Union, the successor to the banned Kikuyu Association. Shortly after Kenyatt...