African American Students Foundation Physical Archives

Description: The African American Students Foundation (AASF) was founded in 1959. In April 1959, prior to Kenyan independence, trade unionist Tom Mboya visited the U.S. at the invitation of the American Committee on Africa; Mboya talked on many college campuses and was given scholarships from many colleges. The AASF was set up to raise money and bring students from East Africa to the U.S. to use these scholarships. Although based in New York, AASF had a national focus. Baseball star Jackie Robinson and performers Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poitier led the initial fundraising. AASF raised an initial $39,000 and as a result organized the first of several "airlifts" of East African students, mostly from Kenya, to the U.S. in September 1959. In 1960 the Joseph P. Kennedy Foundation gave $100,000 to AASF. As a result in 1960 three planes were chartered bringing 222 students from east and central Africa. The archive includes photographs. Cora Weiss was Executive Director and student adviser. This collection forms part of the African Activist Archive collections. Archive deposited by Cora Weiss. View the MSU Libraries Finding Aid here.

Description: The William X. Scheinman papers consist primarily of correspondence and printed matter that reflect Scheinman's lifelong interest in African politics, particularly with respect to Kenya. Having met the Kenyan independence leader, Tom Mboya, in 1956, Scheinman was to identify himself with African causes, even while working as a businessman and investment adviser on Wall Street. An important part of the collection consists of Scheinman's extensive correspondence with Tom Mboya. This exchange of letters, which was conducted from 1957 until Mboya's assassination in 1969, provides significant information concerning the Kenyan independence movement and its leading personalities, as well as documenting the first five years of the Kenyatta administration, in which Mboya served as Minister of Justice. In addition, the collection includes numerous speeches and writings by Mboya (see Tom Mboya File). As one of the directors of the African-American Students Foundation, Scheinman was also involved in a program that enabled African students to attend American colleges and universities. Numerous records of this foundation are contained in the collection (see African-American Students Foundation File). Includes correspondence with, writings by, and interviews of, Mboya. Includes correspondence with people and organizations in the United States including the American Committee on Africa; George M. Houser; Belafonte; Frank Montero; Thurgood Marshall; Martin Luther King Jr.; and Peter and Cora Weiss. Includes recordings of Mboya, Kenneth Kaunda, Kwame Nkrumah, and Julius Nyerere.