I also think that freedom fighters here developed respect and admiration for the Mau Mau rebels in Kenya and their fight against colonization. This had to have played a role in them studying the history of that region and adopting Swahili.
Pretty much how I remembered it. Kenya and the Mau Mau rebellion resonated with Blacks here as early as the 1950s, setting the stage for interest in East African culture and Swahili language.
alluded to in the book excerpt
another excerpt from the book from above
" Yet Kenya, cognizant of its ties over the years to Black America, went further down the road of Pan-Africanism than most, with a bill introduced in
the legislature in 1968 which, if enacted, would have granted automatic citizenship to Africans in the diaspora, not to mention the creation of a Ministry
of Pan-African Affairs, led by Koinange, which had a similar portfolio.
Yet, he could not stall a remarkable rise in
interest among African Americans in all things East African, which has puzzled many contemporary commentators who thought they should have been
intrigued instead by West Africa but these critics failed to grasp the impact of
“Mau Mau.” Thus, the use of Swahili became de rigueur, terms such as Uhuru
and Harambee, names such as Malaika (the adopted name of my sister), and
Tamu became popular. There were demands to teach Swahili in schools and
universities and the leading Black Panther, Raymond Hewitt, took the name
“Masai.”79 The embodiment of the cultural nationalist trend embodied by this
turn to East Africa—Maulana Karenga of Southern California—accelerated
this tendency when he formed the “Simba Wachanga” or Young Lions, youth
trained in martial arts and weaponry; this adherence to Swahili was also
reflected in the continuing adoption of the late December holiday known as
Kwanzaa.8"
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