R. Mugo Gatheru (21 August 1925 – 27 November 2011) was a Kenyan writer. His autobiography ''A Child of Two Worlds'' describes growing up in colonial Kenya. Gatheru was born to a squatter family living on a European farm. He attended medical school in

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper h ...

, but was forced to continue his education abroad after he protested the treatment of Africans by the colonial rulers. After a year in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, he spent eight years from 1950 in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

before studying law in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He returned to Kenya when it gained

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

in 1963. He taught African and Middle Eastern history for many years at

California State University The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a public university system in California. With 23 campuses and eight off-campus centers enrolling 485,550 students with 55,909 faculty and staff, CSU is the largest four-year public univers ...

in Sacramento.Obituary for "Prof. Reuel Mugo-Gatheru" ic ''Sacramento Bee'', 27 November 2012. Accessed 17 August 2020 vi
legacy

Works

* ''A Child of Two Worlds: a Kikuyu's story'', 1964 * ''Kenya : from colonization to independence, 1888-1970'', 2005 * ''From beneath the tree of life : a story of the Kenyan people of Ngai'', 2005

References

1925 births 2011 deaths Kenyan writers Autobiographers {{Kenya-writer-stub