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1/34 #HistoryKeThread Once upon a time in the 1950s, a European man dared a famous Kenyan politician to share a drink with him at The New Stanley Hotel. In those days, non-white patrons were not allowed in the hotel, which however had African and Asian workers. 
2/34 The politician clearly understood the hotel to be one of whites-only patronage, alright, but nonetheless decided to take the challenge, anyway.
3/34 The two agreed a date and time.
4/34 On the material day, the European met the African politician outside the hotel before the duo quickly but quietly disappeared inside.
5/34 Upstairs, the bar was long. Europeans, many of whom were armed, engaged in excited chatter as they downed their sundowner drinks. Behind the bar was an Asian barman and his assistant, a Luo.
6/34 The duo walked on, looking for a vantage spot along the bar from which to order their drinks. Suddenly, the noisy atmosphere gradually grew eerily quiet. The two suddenly became the attention quarry of a white patronage that was as disgusted as it was...
7/34 ...intrigued by the presence of a black patron among them.
8/34 Leaning over the counter, the European asked the barman for two tuskers. But the Asian, unsure about how to handle the awkward situation, given that this particular customer was accompanied by an African guest, froze in fright. So the European turned to...
9/34 ...the equally apprehensive and hesitant Luo waiter. To somewhat reassure the waiter, the black politician nodded at the waiter, who then fetched the beers and proceeded to serve the two guests.
10/34 Meanwhile, the silence in the bar was palpable.
11/34 Sipping his beer, Tom Mboya turned to his New Stanley Hotel chaperone: “Come on, you’ve made your point...”.
12/34 For some reason, author C.S. Nicholls in her book, Red Strangers: The White Tribe of Kenya, does not disclose the identity of the European who accompanied Mboya.
13/34 But this incident at the New Stanley Hotel gives us a glimpse of racial segregation in Kenya in the pre-independence years. We also know that racial segregation did not only affect Asians and Africans.
14/34 For example, even despite being Mayor of Nairobi, Alderman Israel Somen (pictured )was denied membership at Nairobi Club for the reason that he was Jewish.
15/34 In yet another 1929 incident that enraged Goans in Kenya, a white Rift Valley-based farmer called Potter shot dead one of their own, one John Dias. Potter’s daughter was in love with Dias and wanted to get married to him. Her dad, an ex-military
16/34 man, would have none of that.
17/34 Potter was charged with murder and sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment, said to be the longest sentence ever meted out to a white man in the history of colonial Kenya.
18/34 There are accounts that Potter was released a few months into his term in prison, although I haven’t been able to verify the accuracy of these claims.
19/34 Another Goan who came face to face with racial segregation was a pioneer veterinary doctor in Nairobi, Rozendo Ayres Ribeiro. Famous for shuttling around the nascent city while riding in a tamed zebra, Dr. Ribeiro’s requests that his two sons be admitted..
20/34 ...into white schools was flatly rejected. His wife and mother to the kids was English.
21/34 Meanwhile, the Second World War caused an increase in chotara (mixed race) children in the country.
22/34 British soldiers who had served in the war had affairs with native “comfort women” on reaching Kenya.
23/34 Many of these women were later left to fend for their colored children after the soldiers left the country. In Nandi, there were also mixed Afrikaans-Nandi children.
24/34 Another famous account on racial segregation in Kenya involved independence-era politician, the late C.M.G. Argwings Kodhek. When his Irish wife finally made a voyage to Kenya to join him, the authorities, determined to forestall planned protests by...
25/34 ...angry whites at the Nairobi Railway Station, forced her to disembark from the train somewhere in the ukambani outskirts of the city.
26/34 But not every European condoned segregation practices.
27/34 A group of concerned activists drawn from African, Asian and European races came together to start a movement whose main objective was to agitate for the stamping out of racial segregation.
28/34 This movement was the United Kenya Club.
29/34 By design, its three offices of President, Secretary and Treasurer were shared among officials drawn from each of the three main races, viz. African, Asian and European.
30/34 In those days, United Kenya Club organized weekly lunches and invited a guest speaker. Upon his return from Europe, Mzee Kenyatta was invited to, and indeed subsequently addressed, a United Kenya Club luncheon.
31/34 Sir Philip Mitchell (seen here at Sagana State Lodge with Princess Elizabeth), who was Governor of Kenya between 1944 and 1952, was also a bit indulgent on race matters - at least in as far as education matters were concerned. He is the one who...
32/34 ...encouraged an Asian, Mr. Karmali and his English wife, Joan, to start a non-racial school in Nairobi.
33/34 That school is Hospital Hill School, Nairobi. These photos show the mixed race enrollment at the school in those years.
34/34 Until the mid-1950s, when the law was changed, a white male having sexual relations with a member of another race wasn’t criminally culpable. But a male African engaging in sexual relations with a white female risked being hanged.
