The Mau Mau Uprising

1. The Mau Mau Uprising Kenya, 1952-1960

2. What was the Mau Mau Uprising? • Also known as the Mau Mau Revolt, Mau Mau Rebellion, and the Kenya Emergency, it was a military conflict in Kenya from 1952-1960. • At that time, Kenya was still a British colony, not an independent state. • The Mau Mau were anti-colonial (anti-British), mostly from the Kikuyu ethnic group – they fought against the British military and anti-Mau Mau Kikuyus. • Goal of the Mau Mau was to drive the British out of Kenya & punish pro-British Kenyans. • British and Kikuyu Home Guard vs. Mau Mau – in the end, the British side won.

3. Where the Mau Mau Uprising took place (it’s in east Africa, south of Ethiopia, north of Tanzania). Kenya

4. Causes of the Mau Mau Uprising • European settlers in Africa (including, but not limited to, Kenya) had traditionally been able to get more land than native Africans – many Kikuyus in Kenya were bitter about this. • African workers were often mistreated by European employers – even beaten – “they are children, and we should treat them as such.” • 1944: Kenyan African Study Union (KASU) formed to demand better treatment/reparations from British government for native Kenyans – when KASU was unable to win reforms, many of its followers became more militant – planning to change Kenya through violence against the British & their supporters.

5. Nature of the Uprising • British saw the Mau Mau as “perverted tribalism” – savage, violent, depraved – trying to take the Kikuyu back to the “bad old days” before British civilization reached Kenya. The Mau Mau’s view on British colonialism in Kenya was something like this (2 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvPbj9NX0zc • British used a “divide and rule” strategy: emphasized that this was a civil war, not “black vs. white,” but actually the Mau Mau vs. other blacks as well as the British. • This strategy was effective – the Mau Mau were unable to win popular support from most blacks in Kenya.

6. Opposing Sides • Mau Mau (unknown number, but probably 25,000+) vs. 10,000 British regular troops; 21,000 police; and 25,000 Kikuyu Home Guard. • Casualties & losses: • 12,000 Mau Mau killed (officially – may have been 20,000+); 2,633 captured; 2,714 surrendered. • 200 British & African security forces killed. • Civilian victims killed by the Mau Mau: • 1,819 Africans; 32 Europeans; 26 Asians – this does not count hundreds who disappeared & whose bodies were never found; also 916 Africans, 36 Asians, and 26 Europeans wounded by the Mau Mau.

7. Some Mau Mau fighters

8. Mau Mau fighters captured by loyalist Kikuyus The Mau Mau suspects are the ones who are unarmed – the ones with spears are the loyalists.

9. Mau Mau Warfare • Mau Mau didn’t have heavy weaponry to defeat the British military, so most of their attacks were at night against British civilians and loyalists (Kenyans who were loyal to the British) – this was easy, since the Mau Mau often (secretly) lived in the same communities and knew who was on their side and who wasn’t, and where loyalists lived. • Mau Mau’s weapons included guns, but often used spears and pangas (machetes), which made their attacks more terrifying to Europeans.

10. Atrocities • Both sides committed atrocities against each other – Mau Mau were known for torturing victims, then killing them. • The Lari massacre, March 25-26, 1953: Mau Mau attacked Kikuyu village of Lari – herded men, women, & children into huts, then set them on fire – hacked them to death with pangas when they tried to escape the flames – 74 killed. • Even some Mau Mau supporters were shocked by this brutality – tried to discount it as “a mistake.” • A second massacre occurred when loyalist forces retaliated against Mau Mau supporters – 150 were killed. • The Chuka massacre, June 1953: 20 civilians suspected of supporting the Mau Mau killed by British troops.

11. Atrocities, Pt. 2 • 6-year old Michael Ruck, his parents, and a Kenyan worker on their farm (who tried to help them) were hacked to death with pangas by the Mau Mau – photos of Michael’s body with bloodied teddy bears & toy trains strewn about his room shocked the public. • British often tortured captured Mau Mau suspects. Here is what a British officer later said about his interrogation of three Mau Mau captured on suspicion of killing the Ruck family:

12. Interrogation of Mau Mau suspected of the Ruck murders: • I stuck my revolver right in his grinning mouth and I said something, I don't remember what, and I pulled the trigger. His brains went all over the side of the police station. The other two Mickeys [Mau Mau] were standing there looking blank. I said to them that if they didn't tell me where to find the rest of the gang I'd kill them too. They didn't say a word so I shot them both. One wasn't dead so I shot him in the ear. When the sub-inspector drove up, I told him that the Mickeys tried to escape. He didn't believe me but all he said was "bury them and see the wall is cleared up."

13. An account of Mau Mau brutality: • Mau Mau fighters, . . . contrary to African customs and values, assaulted old people, women and children. The horrors they practiced included the following: decapitation and general mutilation of civilians, torture before murder, bodies bound up in sacks and dropped in wells, burning the victims alive, gouging out of eyes, splitting open the stomachs of pregnant women. No war can justify such gruesome actions. In man's inhumanity to man, there is no race distinction. The Africans were practicing it on themselves. There was no reason and no restraint on both sides. —BethwellOgot

14. End of the Mau Mau Uprising • Although it didn’t officially end until 1960, the Mau Mau Uprising effectively ended with the capture of Mau Mau leader Dedan Kimathi on October 21, 1956. • Kenya was granted independence from Britain in 1963 – some claim that the Mau Mau were key to this change; other historians say the Mau Mau had little to do with winning Kenyan independence (or even hindered it by their brutality).

15. Legacy of the Mau Mau • The Mau Mau have generally been condemned by history for their atrocities, but the current Kenyan government considers the Mau Mau to have been freedom fighters against British colonial rule – celebrated on Mashujaa Day every October 20 (since 2010) – there’s even a statue of Dedan Kimathi. • Previous Kenyan governments have been anti-Mau Mau, so the current Mau Mau admiration may not last.

16. Obama and the Mau Mau? Although he wasn’t born yet at the time, some have compared former U.S. President Barack Obama to the Mau Mau because of Obama’s Kenyan roots, anti-colonialist views and dislike for Winston Churchill, who was British Prime Minister when the Mau Mau Uprising began (Obama sent a bust of Churchill that was on display in the White House back to England) – but also because of the anti-British views of Obama’s father: Barack Obama, Sr.

17. Same country, different people • Obama’s father, Barack Obama, Sr. (shown at right), lived in Kenya at the time of the uprising and was anti-British/anti-colonial (like the Mau Mau). • Some have wondered if Obama (Sr.) was a Mau Mau because of this – but he was not (he was from a different tribe in a different part of Kenya). • Although he shared the Mau Mau’s anti-British beliefs, he was not a Mau Mau and didn’t take any violent actions like they did.

18. Magnum, P.I. & the Mau Mau in Pop Culture • One of the most popular & well-reviewed TV series in history, Magnum, P.I., devoted an episode to a story based on the Mau Mau Uprising and its after-effects. • Let’s watch it! (tomorrow – we don’t have time today) • For now, take out a blank sheet of paper…

19. Quiz: The Mau Mau Uprising • In what country did the Mau Mau Uprising take place? • What was Kenya at that time? • What tribe/ethnic group were the Mau Mau from? • How many Mau Mau were there? • How many civilians did the Mau Mau kill? • Why were Mau Mau attacks so terrifying? • What was the Lari massacre (who killed who, how many were killed)? • What was the Chuka massacre? (same info as for #7) • Who was the main leader of the Mau Mau? • What real event from the Mau Mau Uprising was the basis for the events of Episode 46 (“Black on White”) of Magnum, P.I?