#history kenya

[bookloversofbath]

Kenya: From Chartered Company to Crown Colony: Thirty Years of Exploration and Administration in British East Africa :: Charles W. Hobley

[sgtgrunt0331-3]

On January 15, 2019, lone SAS operator Christian Craighead, enters the Dusit Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, in respond to a terrorist attack. This famous photograph was seen on social media and major news outlets around the world.

Off-duty at the time, Craighead wore his combat gear over jeans and shirt when he entered the complex alone. He was able escort civilians to safety, then went back inside the hotel where he shot and killed two of the four al-Shabaab gunmen.

(Photo courtesy of AFP/Getty Images)

[diioonysus]

beauty around the world: pt 8

[readyforevolution]

Beautiful African culture on full display!

It's Maa Cultural Week in Kenya 🇰🇪 , celebrating the vibrant heritage of the Maasai people through music, dance, art, and tradition.

#Myafrik

[kemetic-dreams]

Adut Akech was born in Sudan (in an area that later became part of South Sudan), but was raised in Kakuma, Kenya. Akech was born on Christmas Day, on the way to Kenya. She was 7 years old when she moved from Kenya along with her mother to Adelaide, Australia as South Sudanese refugees seeking asylum. They also had relatives there. Akech has five siblings.

 Akech was known as "Mary", her Christian second name in Adelaide, as Australian teachers found it difficult to pronounce her name.

Be proud of African names, and stop falling into the trap of saying all African names are hard to pronounce. Like European names are easy

[yearningforunity]

Portrait from the Rift Valley

Photographer: Lee Howell

[coachtfd]

A hat trick of Olympic gold medals in the 1500m in three straight Olympics, that’s history people. Remember the name. As a former distance runner, nothing but respect. I got pumped when I hit 4:58 in high school for our boys team. It’s not even close to what she’s done at 30 after giving birth. 🙌🏾

[fashionsfromhistory]

Chasing Evil

Bubu Ogisi for IAMISIGO (Kenya)

Autumn/Winter 2020

Bubu Ogisi founded womenswear brand IAMISIGO in 2009. Based between Lagos, Nairobi and Accra, Ogisi works with small artisan communities across the continent to create collections which spotlight a variety of indigenous textile traditions. Ogisi’s work explores the role of clothing as a vehicle for communication, noting, ‘Our work primarily focuses on how fashion and textiles can not only keep history alive but also pass on information for the future through preservation of techniques and expression through matter.’ Present throughout her work are ideas of rawness and anti-finishing, which Ogisi uses as a visible representation of anti-Eurocentrism.

This ensemble comes from IAMISIGO’s Autumn/Winter 2020 collection, ‘Chasing Evil’. The collection was centered around the Belgian exploitation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the turn of the 20th century, but also the colonial exploitation of Africa as a whole. Through the collection Oigisi wanted to explore how to overcome issues of post war trauma, post-colonial exploitation and neo-colonialism through fashion. Ogisi worked closely with war victims in Bukawa and Kinshasa to research the collection. Palm leaf raffia, sourced from the Congo and Nigeria, was a prominent feature in the collection, with Ogisi using it to visually reference forms of Congolese dress. The jacket from this ensemble is made from cotton with cut raffia woven into the warp. It is paired with a cotton dress and pink faux leopard slippers.

Victoria & Albert (Accession number: T.2338:1to4-2021)

[tilbageidanmark]

Elephant herds used to be so much larger. Photo by Peter Beard.

[queerism1969]

[bookloversofbath]

The Kenya Pioneers :: Errol Trzebinski

[thecreativemillennial]

The infamous Tsavo Man Eaters on display in the Field Museum Of Natural History, in Chicago, Illinois. During March - December 1898, these ferocious male lions attacked and killed 135 people in Kenya, many of whom were construction workers, who were helping to build a railway from Kenya to Uganda. They were eventually hunted down and killed by an Irish British Army veteran called Lieutenant colonel John Henry Patterson, who later on went on to write a book about them called The Man Eaters Of Tsavo, which inspired movies such as Bwana Devil, Killers Of Kilimanjaro and The Ghost And The Darkness

[longliveblackness]

On February 18th 1957, Kenyan freedom fighter, Dedan Kimathi, was executed by the British. He led the KLFA (MauMau) revolution against the brutal British occupation of his country.

Dedan Kimathi, was hanged at dawn at Kamiti, just over 48 hours after his leave of appeal had been rejected by the Privy Council.

He was executed on a charge of carrying a revolver, which, under the Emergency Regulations, was punishable by death.

The basis of Kimathi's request for leave of appeal at the Privy Council was that he was on his way to surrender, and was not in fact "captured."

He also revealed that he was taking in his arms as was required of those who surrendered. The judges, however, rejected this without hearing his lawyer, describing them as "lies”.

Kimathi went calmly to his death and was described by a senior prison official who was present at the execution as a model prisoner. "To the last he was composed and quiet," he said.

At his own request, a Roman Catholic priest spent the whole night with him in his cell.

Although many African leaders were hesistant to condemn the execution out of fear of being labelled Mau Mau sympathisers, anti colonial activists from different parts of the world were quite forthright in their criticism.

“I don’t lead terrorists. I lead Africans who want their self government and land.” — D. Kimathi

•••

El 18 de febrero de 1957, un combatiente por la libertad de Kenia, Dedan Kimathi, fue ejecutado por los británicos. Lideró la revolución KLFA (Mau Mau) contra la brutal ocupación británica de su país.

Dedan Kimathi, fue ahorcado al amanecer en Kamiti, justo más de 48 horas después de que el Consejo Privado rechazara su permiso de apelación.

Fue ejecutado por el cargo de portar una revólver que, según el Reglamento de Emergencia, se castigaba con la muerte.

La solicitud del permiso de apelación de Kimathi ante el Consejo Privado estaba basada en que estaba en camino a rendirse y, de hecho, no fue "capturado".

También reveló que estaba llevando sus armas, ya que era requisito para aquellos que se rendían. Los jueces, sin embargo, rechazaron esto sin escuchar a su abogado, calificándolo como “mentiras".

Kimathi se dirigió tranquilamente a su muerte y un alto funcionario penitenciario que estuvo presente en la ejecución lo describió como un prisionero modelo. "Hasta el final estuvo sereno y tranquilo", dijo.

Por petición propia, un sacerdote católico romano pasó toda la noche con él en su celda.

Aunque muchos líderes africanos dudaron en condenar la ejecución por temor a ser etiquetados como simpatizantes de los Mau Mau, los activistas anticoloniales de diferentes partes del mundo fueron bastante directos en sus críticas.

“Yo no dirijo terroristas. Dirijo a los africanos que quieren su propio gobierno y su tierra”. — D. Kimathi

[leftistfeminista]

THE DEMONSTRATIONS THAT LASTED ELEVEN MONTHS and THE DAY MOTHERS STRIPPED NAKED.

On March 3rd 1992, mothers of the political prisoners stripped naked at Uhuru park to demand for the release of their sons caught in Moi's torture chambers.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the political atmosphere in Kenya was characterized by brutal government repression and terror, under the de-facto single-party rule of President Daniel Arap Moi. 

Any form of political dissension was swiftly met with government interrogation, detention, and torture, using the justification of the Public Order Act, the Chiefs Authority Act and the Sedition Law. 

This resulted to the arrest, killing and exiling of many students, politicians, lawyers and journalists. Those arrested were tortured and thrown in prisons, some came back alive while others died in the torture chambers and prisons. 

On Feb 28th, 1992, Mothers of Political Prisoners, aged between 60-80 years presented a Petition with a list of 52 political prisoners who had been imprisoned for perceived anti-government statements, ideas, and actions, to the then Attorney General, Amos Wako. 

The mothers then proceeded to a now famous corner at the Uhuru Park in Nairobi for an undefined hunger strike. The mothers were supported & led by the late Nobel Laurent, Prof. Wangari Maathai who joined them in their protest, which was ignored by the mainstream media, KBC & KTN. 

The mothers set up camp in the Uhuru (Freedom) Park that is located across the infamous “Nyayo House Torture Chambers” and not far off is the Parliament Building. There, they staged a hunger strike and waited for the release of their sons. 

The striking mothers soon garnered much support for their cause. Several sympathizers set up a tent under which the mothers could sleep, and many frustrated Kenyans came forward and openly recounted their stories of torture. 

These supporters joined in on the mothers’ singing of traditional Kenyan songs, which included such lyrics as, “Go and take the child back…” The mothers set up banners and handed out flyers to curious Kenyans as they continued their vigil. 

On March 3rd, the Moi government decided to forcibly disperse the demonstrators. Government police forces beat protesters with batons, fired gunshots into the air, and hurled tear-gas into the tent where protesters were gathered. 

Wangari Maathai who was criticized by President Daniel Arap Moi, being called a “madwoman” & “a threat to the order & security of the country”, was was beaten into the coma. This made it to the newspaper headlines, causing uproar across the nation and criticism internationally. 

To ward off the police, two of the protesting mothers stripped their clothing and dared the police to kill them. They shouted “What kind of government is this that beats women! Kill us! Kill us now! We shall die with our children!” 

Perhaps the mothers were inspired by the 1922 bravery actions of women led by Mary Muthoni Nyanjiru, who stormed a police station in Nairobi to demand the release of Harry Thuku. Men who had come along started retreating upon coming face to face with armed colonial police. 

In disappointment, Nyanjiru stripped to shame the fleeing men, and asked them to give women their trousers since they were brave. The charged crowd overrun the police station, and Mary Nyanjiru was shot dead on that day. Her brave actions aroused people into active resistance. 

Back to 1992, the police officers on seeing the nakedness of mothers in their 60s, responded by turning away and leaving the scene. According to Maathai, the tactic of disrobing was particularly effective in stopping the police because.... 

... “In the African tradition,people must respect women who are close to their mother’s age, & must treat them as their mothers. If men beat mothers,it is like sons violating their mothers, & the mothers respond by cursing them & they cursed them by showing them their nakedness.” 

The news of the violent beatings of the mothers sparked riots all over Nairobi. Transportation workers boycotted their work in protest of the govt beating the mothers, & large crowds of stone-throwing demonstrators had to be dispersed by tear gas-firing riot police. 

[banji-effect]

I was just reading an article yesterday about the UK government's attempts to block any formal apology for the slave trade and proposals of reparations discussions at the Commonwealth meeting (which is going on right now). Just saying that these kinds of things are very much not a given. Thank you again to Deb Haaland for being legit one of the greatest to ever do it.