Dec. 12, 1963

Kenya's flag being hoisted atop Mt Kenya, the highest mountain in the country, on Independence Day, December 12, 1963 
source: http://www.africareview.com/News/-/979180/1002300/-/ibtg5rz/-/login

On Dec. 12, 1963, Kenya gained its independence from Britain. “With Britain’s Union Jack replaced by the black, red and green flag of the new states, political power in Britain’s last East African colonial holding slipped from the grasp of its 55,759 whites and was taken up by its 8,365,942 Africans,” wrote The New York Times.

The road to independence began in the 1950s with the Mau Mau Rebellion. The Mau Mau movement was a militant African nationalist group that opposed British colonial rule and its exploitation of the native population.

Mau Mau members, made up primarily of Kikuyu (the largest ethnic group in Kenya), carried out violent attacks against colonial leaders and white settlers. In 1952, the colonial government declared a state of emergency and arrested many Kenyan independence leaders, including moderates who had little or no connection to the Mau Mau, like Jomo Kenyatta, president of the Kenya African Union.
Read on at source: The New York Times