Airlift to America : how Barack Obama, Sr., John F. Kennedy, Tom Mboya, and 800 East African students changed their world and ours

Format:

Book

Title:

Airlift to America : how Barack Obama, Sr., John F. Kennedy, Tom Mboya, and 800 East African students changed their world and ours

Other title(s):

Air lift to America

Author:

Shachtman, Tom, 1942- author.

ISBN:

9780312570750

Edition:

First edition.

Publication:

New York : St. Martin's Press, 2009.

Physical Description:

x, 273 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 22 cm

Contents:

Foreword / by Harry Belafonte -- Prologue : Iowa and Kogelo -- Cold War and moral crusades -- American labor and the rise of Tom Mboya -- Alliance formed -- The Harambee kids -- The college experience -- Crisis time : Kennedy vs. Nixon on the airlift -- The airlift and the presidential election of 1960 -- Care and feeding -- A logical evolution -- Epilogue : Sons and daughters of the new future.

Summary:

This long-hidden saga reveals how a handful of Americans and Kenyans fought the British colonial government, the U.S. State Department, and segregation to send nearly 800 young East African men and women to U.S. universities--many of whom would go on to change the world.

Corporate Subject:

African American Students Foundation.

African American Students Foundation. (OCoLC)fst01897457

Subject(s):

African American Students Foundation.

College students -- Africa, East -- History -- 20th century.

United States -- Relations -- Africa, East.

Africa, East -- Relations -- United States.

Geographic Term:

United States -- Relations -- Africa, East.

Africa, East -- Relations -- United States.

Africa, East.

United States.

Genre:

History.

Added Author:

Belafonte, Harry, 1927-2023,

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Monmouth Public Library	378.1982 Shachtman, T. 2009	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

This is the long-hidden saga of how a handful of Americans and East Africans fought the British colonial government, the U.S. State Department, and segregation to transport to, or support at, U.S. and Canadian universities, between 1959 and 1963, nearly 800 young East African men and women who would go on to change their world and ours. The students supported included Barack Obama Sr., future father of a U.S. president, Wangari Maathai, future Nobel Peace Prize laureate, as well as the nation-builders of post-colonial East Africa -- cabinet ministers, ambassadors, university chancellors, clinic and school founders.

The airlift was conceived by the unusual partnership of the charismatic, later-assassinated Kenyan Tom Mboya and William X. Scheinman, a young American entrepreneur, with supporting roles played by Jackie Robinson, Harry Belafonte, Sidney Poitier, and Martin Luther King, Jr. The airlift even had an impact on the 1960 presidential race, as Vice-President Richard Nixon tried to muscle the State Department into funding the project to prevent Senator Jack Kennedy from using his family foundation to do so and reaping the political benefit.

The book is based on the files of the airlift's sponsor, the African American Students Foundation, untouched for almost fifty years.

Author Notes

Tom Shachtman has written twenty-five books, including the best-selling "The Gilded Leaf" (with Patrick Reynolds), as well as documentaries for all of the major television networks.

(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (4)

Publisher's Weekly Review

One of the true global cultural exchange programs that paid huge dividends, the African American Students Foundation (AASF), is the timely topic of Shachtman's (Rumspringa) new book. The brainchild of Kenyan politician Tom Mboya and American businessman William Scheinman, the AASF's goal was to bring top African students to America between 1959 and 1963 in order to establish a group of accomplished young Africans to staff government positions and the educational system in their native countries upon the fall of colonialism. Called the "airlift generation," prized students from Kenya, Tanganyika, Uganda and Rhodesia, among them President Obama's father, Barack Sr., and Wangari Maathai, the winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize, were chosen to study in American colleges and universities. Shachtman relates the political controversies surrounding the program and U.S. government involvement, as African nations gained independence and became proxies in the cold war. A memorable and poignant recounting of a significant endeavor that is still scoring successes around the world, this book is not to be missed by African and American history buffs. 8 pages of b&w photos. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Kirkus Review

The story of communal American liberality 50 years ago and how it affected today's world, retrieved from the files of an almost forgotten nongovernmental organization. In 1959, many Africans and African-Americans saw their circumstances as connected, with colonialism and segregation mirroring each other. "Uhuru! Freedom Now!" was the cry in sub-Sahara Africa, and if education was the key to black freedom and independence for both populations, education in Americarather than England or the Soviet Unionwas seen as crucial for Africans. The African American Students Foundation, whose founders included charismatic Kenyan activist Tom Mboya, sought to arrange transportation to the United States for young East Africans who had secured scholarships at American colleges. The organization's first airlift brought President Obama's father and 80 more bright, eager students from a dozen tribes. Though some were inadequately prepared for their new lives as American scholars, most succeeded remarkably, Shachtman (Rumspringa: To Be or Not to Be Amish, 2006, etc.) demonstrates in revealing character sketches. Ultimately, the students returned home to become doctors, academics and government officials in their newly formed nations. The airlift effort became a political football between Nixon and Kennedy in the 1960 presidential campaign, with both candidates seeking to somehow take credit for its success. Though the AASF was strongly supported by Jackie Robinson and Martin Luther King Jr., among other luminaries, raising money for the charter flights was difficult until the government took over funding the flights in 1964. Nonetheless, the efforts of the AASF proved to be a crucial element in the development of numerous students who would become significant figures in their home nations. Shachtman's text, gleaned from the organization's files and interviews with principals, offers a compelling portrait of nation-building abroad and nation-changing at home. A valuable case study of the effectiveness of NGOs when they are operated with care and confidence. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

In the late 1950s, before Kenya's independence from Britain, Kenyan leader Tom Mboya and American philanthropist William Scheinman joined to develop a cadre of educated young people to staff the government and schools. Between 1959 and 1963, nearly 800 African students were flown to the U.S. to be educated and to return to become the founding brothers and sisters of their East African nations. Among them were Wangari Maathai, who went on to become an environmentalist and 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner, and Barack Obama Sr., father of the future president of the U.S. Shachtman provides historical perspective of cold war politics in African nations, countervailing loyalties to European colonial powers, and the appeal of U.S. ideals of independence. He also details the behind-the-scenes political maneuvering between Nixon and Kennedy vying to control an emerging issue of African independence and racial tensions at home as the civil rights movement launched. Most interesting are the profiles of the African students themselves, the letters they wrote to accompany their applications, their struggles to get through the program, and their later accomplishments.--Bush, Vanessa Copyright 2009 Booklist

Library Journal Review

A Kenyan student, one among a large group of students airlifted to the United States in 1959 by the African American Students Foundation, has a son who, 50 years later, becomes the President of the United States. It is upon that stunning truth that Schachtman (Rumspringa: To Be or Not To Be Amish) builds his premise: the airlift, which brought hundreds of Kenyan students to American colleges and universities, changed the face not only of America but of American politics. Central to this story is Kenyan Tom Mboya, here portrayed as a heroic figure fighting the colonial powers that still ruled Kenya in the 1950s and 1960s. His rising international prominence enabled him to meet notables, such as Harry Belafonte, who would help him fund the airlifts, and he used the presidential election of 1960 as leverage to finesse funding from John F. Kennedy's family foundation. Whether that affected Kennedy's election, as Schachtman posits, is not so clear. But this little-known period of African and American history ultimately had a profound effect on American life, especially in race relations and politics. Verdict A well-written and fascinating account that all students of history will appreciate.-Jane B. Marino, Great Neck Lib., NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.