... 1952, Time magazine reported on what it called "The Bloody Mau Mau Revolt," the assassination by the anti-British Mau Mau rebels of a Kikuyu chief, "a prominent British loyalist from their own tribe." Consequently, a state of emergency was declared in what was then a British colony; it would remain in place nearly 8 years. According to Time,
British troops were brought in. More than 100,000Africans were put into detention camps. The killings continued, and news reports about the Mau Mau's bloody massacres of white settlers living in the highlands of central Kenya horrified the world. In fact, only 32 Europeans died, while almost 2,000 Kikuyu loyal to the British crown were murdered before the colonial government regained control.
The rebel movement sparked calls against colonialism in Africa. Aided in part by Thurgood Marshall, Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Kenya would gain independence its independence in 1963.
