The Kennedy Airlift

The Kennedy Airlift was started in 1959 by a 28-year-old Kenyan, Tom Mboya, who sought support for promising Kenyan students to get college and university educations in the United States and Canada. It brought hundreds of students from East Africa from 1959 to 1963 and was supported by many North American educational institutions, foundations, and individuals such as the African American Students Foundation (AASF) and famous African Americans including Harry Belafonte, Jackie Robinson, Sidney Poitier, and Martin Luther King Jr. It got its popular nickname in September 1960 when Senator John Kennedy in a close presidential campaign arranged a $100,000 donation from the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr Foundation to cover airfare for the autumn 1960 group of East African students just as the program was running out of funds.[1]

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Background

The program began in earnest in 1959, when Tom Mboya embarked on a speaking tour of the United States to seek scholarships for students from East Africa. The first batch of 81 students touched down in New York City on September 11, 1959. They would be settled in various universities in the United States and Canada. In Kenya, Mboya liaised with Julius Kiano and Kariuki Njiiri to identify potential students for the airlifts. Both Kiano and Njiiri were alumni of US universities.[2][3]

The airlifts were opposed by Britain, which did not want American meddling with any of its colonies, one of which was Kenya. British officials spread propaganda among top Kenyan students that American education was inferior to British education.

Legacy

The airlifts officially ended in 1963. Most of the graduates from American and Canadian colleges and universities went back to help build the newly-independent Kenya. Some were employed even before they had graduated, mainly in the public administration sector as district and provincial officers. Men found it easy to get jobs for which they qualified, but women faced a tougher challenge since they were offered secretarial duties despite being better qualified than most male officers in the same departments. However, the inclusion of women demonstrated foresight on the part of the airlift organizers. One of these women, Wangari Maathai, later won the Nobel Peace Prize, and another, Leah Marangu, later become the first female head of a university in Africa.[4]

Overall, the accomplishments of the airlift students were significant. Several of them became the entrepreneurs, cabinet ministers, members of parliament, university professors, and academics who went on to build their countries. The airlift program also influenced the United States presidential election of 1960. The African-American vote, which largely supported Kennedy instead of Richard Nixon, was largely influenced by the support given by the Kennedy Foundation to the program.[4]

Many of the airlift students were the first black students at the universities that they attended. Their manner, determination, and persistence impressed many of the host communities and as a result, opened doors to African American students to attend these universities, therefore contributing to the Civil Rights Movement. Later, Barack Obama acknowledged that the airlift program had enabled his Kenyan father to meet his Kansan mother.[4][5]

Notable beneficiaries

Over 800 students, mainly from Kenya, benefited from the Kennedy Airlift. Notable recipients include Kenya's Wangari Maathai, the first African female and first environmentalist to win the Nobel Prize; Mahmoud Mamdani, a prominent Ugandan academic listed in the top 100 list of public intellectuals by Prospect Magazine; and George Saitoti, a former vice president of Kenya. Other notable recipients include[3][4][6][7][8]

Academia and education

Diplomatic service

Environmentalism and conservationism

Journalism, writing and media

Politics, trade unionism and civil rights

Science, technology and medicine

Barack Obama Sr.

Contrary to some media reports, Barack Obama Sr., the father of Barack Obama Jr., was not a direct beneficiary of the airlifts[9] but, inspired by the airlift program, applied to various American universities and received private funding to attend the University of Hawaii. He also received funding from the African American Students Foundation (AASF) with the help of Mboya and so was part of the airlift generation.[4]

See also

References
  1. "JFK and the Student Airlift". John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
  2. https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/magazine/Airlifts-to-the-US-The-first-Kenyans-to-study-in-America/434746-3472918-8ak1w4/index.html
  3. Kenyan Student Airlifts to America 1959-1961: An Educational Odyssey by Stephens, Robert F.
  4. Airlift to America. How Barack Obama, Sr., John F. Kennedy, Tom Mboya, and 800 East African Students Changed Their World and Ours by Tom Shachtman
  5. The other Obama-Kennedy connection. Article in: The Guardian. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/jan/10/usa.uselections2008
  6. The Spelman spotlight. (Atlanta , Georgia) 1957-1980, November 01, 1959 https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn81304549/1959-11-01/ed-1/seq-1/
  7. Colby College Libraries. https://issuu.com/colbycollegelibrary/docs/colby_magazine_vol._80_no._2_march_/79
  8. Hall of Fame. Stephen Machooka. https://cornellbigred.com/hof.aspx?hof=594
  9. https://www.thenation.com/article/african-airlift/
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