The Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1935 inspired hundreds of black Americans--and some white Americans--to volunteer to serve in Haile Selassie's army.
Here's a report from the Getty archive, showing volunteers queuing up in Harlem. 1/3
2/3 Recruiters hoped that thousands of men would be enlisted for service in Ethiopia.
Here's Eldridge Eastman, New Bruswick-born descendant of black loyalists, pleading with black Canadians to join Haile Selassie's army. Eastman had been the world sprint champion in 1906.
3/3 Support for Ethiopia was not universal in the United States. Here's an interviewer talking with New Yorkers about the Italian invasion, October 1935.
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Below: Appeal for volunteers to serve in Ethiopia from Haile Selassie, 1935.
Published in the Pittsburgh Courier, the most important African-American newspaper of its day.
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Very few volunteers actually made it to Ethiopia. And--as these 1935 press reports show--some people thought the whole 'help Ethiopia' cause was a sham.
Nonetheless the enthusiasm in Harlem was real. It highlights the global reach of black American politics in the '30s.
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Late Nagenda's parents were William and Sala Nagenda, who were--with Simeon Nsibambi--the central figures in the early history of the East African Revival.
Here's William Nagenda with colleague Yosiya Kinuka in 1936.
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John Nagenda studied at King's College, Budo--his marks are detailed below. Thereafter he went to Makerere, where he read English literature.
The father of new British PM--Rishi Sunak--was born in Kenya & emigrated to London in the 1960s. He was one of several thousand Asians who fled in the years after independence, seeking financial security. Short thread.
Here's Tom Mboya, Minister for Economic Planning, 1968. 1/
Mboya: while some Asians have left, 'I wld rather have that than have disloyal, disaffected people...who are not prepared to cooperate in promoting nation-building'.
In 1969 the Trade Licensing Act barred Asians from owning important businesses in & outside Nairobi.
3/ As a result of the Act, some 3,000 Asian businessmen were put out of work. Many sought to emigrate to Britain--but strict quotas made it hard for them to relocate.
Here Asians demonstrate outside the British High Commission in Nairobi, demanding support from the British govt.
Kenyans go to the polls on Tuesday. Here's a thread about one of the contenders for the presidency, @RailaOdinga. In the 1980s & 90s he played a key role in bringing down the dictatorship of Daniel arap Moi.
Below: Raila speaks at a convention of opposition leaders, 1992. 1/
@RailaOdinga 2/
Raila married Ida Betty Akoth Oyoo in September 1973. She was to play a key role in his political career: as an advocate, a defender of his liberty, a spokesperson, and a public face--at a time when Raila himself was in detention & out of view.
@RailaOdinga 3/
Raila studied engineering in Germany; by 1975 he was a manager at the Kenya Bureau of Standards. Below: a thought piece from the Nation about 'Standardisation'.
Fifty years ago, on 4 August 1972, Idi Amin announced that Uganda's Asian community--over 50,000 people--had 90 days to leave the country.
Here he is at 'Command Post' in Kololo on 6 August, explaining the policy to the diplomatic corps.
Short thread. 1/
2/ 'One’s mind boggles at the thought of the effects of the sudden withdrawal of all Asians from Ugandan life', wrote a British diplomat a few days after the announcement. 'Practically everything one can think of has Asian somewhere in the system'.
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The Uganda government argued that the expulsion was an orderly and logical. Here's a remarkable clip: Grace Ibingira, UN representative for Uganda, defending the expulsion of the Asians at the United Nations.
As far as I know, this is the only place where Ibingira is on film.
On 20 Aug. 1968 250,000 soldiers from the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia, putting an end to the 'Prague Spring'.
The invasion caused outrage in eastern Africa. Here students in Tanzania lob rotten eggs at the Soviet embassy--& express sympathy to the Czech ambassador. 1/
2/ In Kenya students marched to the Soviet embassy, carrying signs calling the invasion 'An Act of Imperialism of the Vilest Decree'. Other signs: 'Russians Go Home' & 'New Hitlerism'.
3/ For months the Czech Spring--and its violent end--were front page news on @NationAfrica.
This is Mme. Pauline Lumumba on 19 January 1961. With a small group of supporters she had just marched to the United Nations headquarters in Leopoldville, demanding UN help for the return of the body of her murdered husband, Patrice Lumumba.
Short thread on Pauline Lumumba. 1/
2/ On 17 Jan. Lumumba--arrested by Gen. Mobutu--was famously handed over to secessionists in Katanga & their Belgian backers, who murdered him.
On hearing her husband's fate, Mme. Lumumba marched to the UN headquarters--baring her breasts--to demand help & recognition.
3/ Fearing for her life, Pauline went into exile in Egypt.
Here's a @Reuters clip of their children--Patrice, Julienne, and Francois--with friends in Cairo.