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Kenyatta, Jomo

(Encyclopedia)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 leader...

Kenyatta, Uhuru Muigai

(Encyclopedia)Kenyatta, Uhuru Muigai, 1961–, Kenyan politicial leader, son of Jomo Kenyatta. A Kikuyu, he entered politics in the 1990s, joining the Kenya African National Union (KANU) and ran unsuccessfully for ...

Moi, Daniel Toroitich arap

(Encyclopedia)Moi, Daniel Toroitich arap môy [key], 1924–2020, president of Kenya (1978–2002). First named to the legislature in 1955, he opposed Kikuyu and Luo dominance until he joined Kenya's first independ...

Mau Mau

(Encyclopedia)Mau Mau mouˈ mouˌ [key], secret insurgent organization in Kenya, comprising mainly Kikuyu tribespeople. They were bound by oath to force the expulsion of white settlers from Kenya. In 1952 the Mau M...

Odinga, Oginga

(Encyclopedia)Odinga, Oginga ōgĭnˈgä ōdĭnˈgä [key], 1911–94, Kenyan political leader. A Luo, he was active in the Kenyan independence movement and later became (1960) vice president of the Kenya African N...

Kikuyu

(Encyclopedia)Kikuyu kĭko͞oˈyo͞o [key], Bantu-speaking people, numbering about 6 million, forming the largest tribal group in Kenya. The Kikuyu live in the highlands NE of Nairobi. Before the British conquest t...

Kibaki, Mwai

(Encyclopedia)Kibaki, Mwai (Emilio Mwai Kibaki), 1931–, Kenyan political leader. An economist educated at the London School of Economics, he was elected to Kenya's first parliament (1963) as a member of the Kenya...

Mboya, Thomas Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Mboya, Thomas Joseph mboiˈə [key], 1930–69, Kenyan political leader. The son of a Luo farmer, he was born in the “white highlands” of Kenya and educated at Roman Catholic mission schools. Earl...

Abrahams, Peter

(Encyclopedia)Abrahams, Peter, 1919–2017, South African novelist and journalist, b. Peter Henry Abrahams Deras. Though he lived mostly in exile, he exposed the injustices of the apartheid system and the politics ...

Du Bois, W. E. B.

(Encyclopedia)Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt Du Bois) dəboisˈ [key], 1868–1963, American civil-rights leader and author, b. Great Barrington, Mass., grad. Harvard (B.A., 1890; M.A., 1891; Ph.D., 18...

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