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Mau Mau Uprising: Africans
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The main causes of the Mau Mau uprising was the harsh restrictions placed upon African way of life. The social conditions were so appalling that after awhile there was nothing left to do but uprise against the oppressor. The Africans in Kenya did this with the help of leaders such as Jomo Kenyatta who attacked the wretched social conditions his people were forced to live in under British domination.
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When one thinks of the Mau Mau uprising, the images are of African natives slitting the throats of white settlers and farmers in their sleep, and of Jomo Kenyatta, the famous Burning Spear who later became the first President of Kenya. In the United States the images were all pro-British and avid audiences watched motion pictures on the subject such as the 1955 Simba, where the Mau Mau were depicted as murderous hordes or betrayers who murdered their white masters, friends, and children in their beds. The best selling novel Something of Value, by Robert Ruark, reinforced this official version of black savagery. In 1957 it was made into a motion picture and Prime Minister Winston Churchill narrated the prologue to the movie. In Safari, the guerrillas slaughter Europeans all through the movie while white hunter Victor Mature gallantly tries to fight and kill the savage murderers. The rebellion really was more of a black-on-black wave of violence.
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European settlers’ fear of death at Mau Mau’s hands ignited a vicious colonial response that is damning, to be sure. But Britain’s colonial empire in East Africa was not an unambiguously evil empire. In what is today Tanzania, immediately south of Kenya, and where fewer settlers lived, the British replacement of the German colonial power in the wake of World War I saved the lives of many Africans, who were oppressed and persecuted substantially more by the German government. There, the British used their might to finally put an end to slavery and embarked on public works projects never seen before or since British colonial rule. Many Africans who lived during colonial times do not feel the hostility that seemingly should exist toward their colonial rulers, who are often purported to be, without exception, heavy-handed racists. Yet, many speak fondly of their missionary educations, and it is hard to travel through the country without seeing the libraries, schools, hospitals, and roads constructed by the British that are now left to decay by a government whose corruption everyone seems to understand.
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"Of the recent studies on Kenya's Mau Mau uprising, Shamsul Alam's stands out. It frames the movement correctly for what it was--a bonafide revolution that shocked Britain out of her imperial arrogance. Modestly put, Alam's book is a powerful statement that: after all is said and done, Mau Mau will take its place in history as one of the world's greatest events which helped to bring the Empire down to its knees."--Mwangi Njagi, Adjunct Professor of Modern African History, State University of New York, Stony Brook
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In 1953 Mau Mau forces begun to decline, possibly because of military action bit ... for their internal squabbles. In the same year the colonial government created so-called pseudo-gangs composed of de-oathed and turned ex-Mau Mau and allied Africans with white officers. They tried to infiltrate Mau Mau ranks and made search and destroy missions Pseudo-gangs also included white settler volunteers who even tried to disguise themselves as Africans.
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Despite the figures, though, Mau Mau had triggered change. Painfully slowly, the realization dawned on the British that the colony was coming to an end. The Jewel in the colonial crown, India, had already achieved her freedom through peaceful means, and one-by-one the other African possessions of the empire were demanding self-rule. The only rational option remaining was to cede to the demands.
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