Kenya African Union (originally called Kenya African Study Union) was a political organization formed in 1944

to articulate Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

n grievances against the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 colonial

Colonialism

Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...

 administration of the time. The KAU promptly demanded access to the Kenyan highlands, which, up to that time, had been largely owned by white settlers.
Kenya African Union attempted to be more inclusive than its predecessor Kikuyu Central Association

Kikuyu Central Association

The Kikuyu Central Association , led by James Beauttah and Joseph Kang'ethe, was a political organisation in colonial Kenya formed in 1924/5 to act on behalf of the Kĩkũyũ community by presenting their concerns to the British government. One of its greatest grievances was the expropriation of the...

 by avoiding tribal

Tribe

A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists...

 politics.

In late 1946, Kenyatta returned to Kenya, becoming the unrivaled leader of nationalist movement. During mid-1947, Jomo Kenyatta

Jomo Kenyatta

Jomo Kenyattapron.] served as the first Prime Minister and President of Kenya. He is considered the founding father of the Kenyan nation....

 was elected to the presidency of the Kenya African Union.

In 1960, KAU merged with Kenya Independent Movement and the People's Congress Party

People's Congress Party

The People's Congress Party is a political party in Solomon Islands. It was founded by outgoing deputy Prime Minister Fred Fono during the campaign for the 2010 general election....

 to form the Kenya African National Union

Kenya African National Union

The Kenya African National Union, better known as KANU is a political party which ruled Kenya for nearly 40 years after its independence from British colonial rule in 1963, until its electoral loss at the end of 2002...

 (KANU).

Literature

In the book Weep Not, Child

Weep Not, Child

Weep Not, Child is Kenyan author Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o's first novel, published in 1964 under the name James Ngugi. It was the first English novel to be published by an East African. Thiong'o's works deal with the relationship between Africans and the British colonists in Africa, and are heavily...

by Ngugi Wa Thiong'o

Ngugi wa Thiong'o

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o is a Kenyan author, formerly working in English and now working in Gĩkũyũ. His work includes novels, plays, short stories, and essays, ranging from literary and social criticism to children's literature...

, the KAU is discussed in one of his chapters.

External links

• "Kenya -- History", East Africa Living Encyclopedia, African Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania
  University of Pennsylvania
  The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
  
  , 1998, web: UPenn-Khist.
• Speech by Kenyatta at the Kenya African Union Meeting at Nyeri, July 26, 1952