Editing Louis Leakey (section)

==In British East Africa==
=== Return to British East Africa ===
Louis had already involved himself in Kikuyu tribal affairs in 1928, taking a stand against [[female genital cutting]]. He got into a shouting match in Kikuyu one evening with [[Jomo Kenyatta]], later the [[president of Kenya]], who was lecturing on the topic. R. Copeland at Oxford recommended he apply to the [[Rhodes Trust]] for a grant to write a study of the Kikuyu and it was given late in 1936 along with a salary for two years. In January 1937 the Leakeys travelled to Kenya. Colin would not see his father for 20 years.

Louis returned to [[Kiambaa]] near [[Nairobi]] and persuaded Senior Chief Koinange, who designated a committee of chiefs, to help him describe the Kikuyu the way they had been. Mary excavated at Waterfall Cave.<ref>According to Louis's ''Memoirs'', Chapter 6, it was the chief who suggested she excavate. He knew artifacts were being washed from the cave. Louis and Mary had moved into a hut in his compound at his invitation.</ref> She fell ill with double pneumonia and was near death for two weeks in the hospital in Nairobi, during which time her mother was sent for. Contrary to expectation, she recovered and began another excavation at [[Hyrax Hill]] and then [[Njoro River Cave]]. Louis got an extension of his grant, which he used partially for fossil-hunting. Leakey discoveries began to appear in the newspapers again.

Tensions between the Kikuyu and the settlers increased alarmingly. Louis jumped into the fray as an exponent of the middle ground. In ''Kenya: Contrasts and Problems'', he angered the settlers by proclaiming Kenya could never be a "white man's country."

===Fossil police===
The government offered Louis work as a policeman in intelligence, which he accepted. He traveled the country as a [[peddler|pedlar]], reporting on the talk. In September 1939, when Britain went to war, the Kenyan government drafted Louis into its African intelligence service.<ref>Louis describes this authority in Chapter 8 of his ''Memoirs'' as "...the CID... Special Branch, Section 6, concerned with civil intelligence." The drafting authority was the "Kenya government" and there is no indication in the ''Memoirs'' that the service was more directly British; in fact, he refers to "my counterpart in military intelligence." However, Louis would not be revealing everything he knew. Morell portrays him as having been in police work before being drafted. She had personal access to the surviving Leakeys.</ref> Apart from some bumbling around, during which he and some settlers stalked each other as possible saboteurs of the [[Sagana]] [[Rail transport in Kenya|Railway Bridge]],<ref>''Memoirs'', Chapter 8.</ref> his first task was to supply and arm [[Gideon Force|Ethiopian guerrillas]] against the Italian [[East African Campaign (World War II)|invaders of their country]]. He created a clandestine network using his childhood friends among the Kikuyu. They also hunted fossils on the sly.

Louis conducted interrogations, analyzed handwriting, wrote radio broadcasts and took on regular police investigations. He loved a good mystery of any sort. The white leadership of the [[King's African Rifles]] used him extensively to clear up many cultural mysteries; for example, he helped an officer remove a curse he had inadvertently put on his men.<ref>''Memoirs'', Chapter 9.</ref>

Mary continued to find and excavate sites. In 1940, their son Jonathan Leakey was born. She worked in the Coryndon Memorial Museum (later called the [[National Museums of Kenya]]) where Louis joined her as an unpaid honorary curator in 1941. Their life was a melange of police work and archaeology. They investigated [[Rusinga Island]] and [[Olorgesailie]]. At the latter site they were assisted by a team of Italian experts recruited from the prisoners of war and paroled for the purpose.<ref>''Memoirs'', Chapter 12.</ref>

In 1942, the Italian menace ended, but the Japanese began to reconnoiter with a view toward landing in force. Louis found himself in counter-intelligence work, which he performed with zest and imagination. In the same year, their daughter Deborah was born, but died at the age of three months. They lived in a rundown and bug-infested Nairobi home, [[tied accommodation|provided by the museum]]. Jonathan was attacked by [[army ant]]s in his crib.<ref>This section is based on Morell, Chapter 8, "Cloak-and-Dagger".</ref>

===Turn of the tide===
In 1944 [[Richard Leakey]] was born. In 1945 the family's income from police work all but vanished. By now Louis was getting plenty of job offers but he chose to stay on in Kenya as Curator of the Coryndon Museum, with an annual salary and a house, but more importantly, to continue palaeoanthropological research.

In January 1947 Louis conducted the first Pan-African Congress of Prehistory at Nairobi. Sixty scientists from 26 countries attended, delivering papers and visiting the Leakey sites. The conference restored Louis to the scientific fold and made him a major figure in it. With the money that now poured in Louis undertook the famous expeditions of 1948 and beyond at [[Rusinga Island]] in [[Lake Victoria]], where Mary discovered the most complete [[Proconsul (mammal)|Proconsul]] fossil up to that time.

[[Charles Watson Boise]] donated money for a boat to be used for transport on Lake Victoria, ''The Miocene Lady''. Its skipper, Hassan Salimu, was later to deliver [[Jane Goodall]] to Gombe. [[Philip Leakey]] was born in 1949. In 1950, Louis was awarded an honorary doctorate by [[Oxford University]].

===Kenyan affairs===
{{blockquote|text=... I sought a personal interview with the governor, hoping to make him appreciate that it was no longer possible to continue along the lines of the old colonial regime. ... Colonial governors and senior civil servants are not easy people to argue with; and, of course, I was not popular, because of my criticism of the colonial service ... Had it been possible to make the government open its eyes to the realities of the situation, I believe that the whole miserable episode of what is frequently spoken of as '[[Mau Mau Uprising|the Mau Mau rebellion]]' need never have taken place.|Louis Leakey|''By the Evidence'', Chapter 18}}
While the Leakeys were at Lake Victoria, the Kikuyu struck at the European settlers of the Kenyan highlands, who seemed to have the upper hand and were insisting on a "white" government of a "white" Africa. In 1949 the Kikuyu formed a secret society, the [[Kenya Land and Freedom Army|Mau Mau]], which attacked settlers and especially loyalist Kikuyu.

Louis had attempted to warn [[Philip Euen Mitchell|Sir Philip Mitchell]], governor of the colony, that nocturnal meetings and forced oaths were not Kikuyu customs and foreboded violence, but was ignored. Now he found himself pulled away from anthropology to investigate the Mau Mau. During this period his life was threatened and a reward placed on his head. The Leakeys began to pack pistols, termed "European National Dress." The government placed him under 24-hour guard.

In 1952, after a Mau Mau massacre of pro-British chiefs, the government arrested [[Jomo Kenyatta]], president of the [[Kenya African Union]]. Louis was summoned to be a court interpreter, but withdrew after an accusation of mistranslation because of prejudice against the defendant. He returned on request to translate documents only. Because of lack of evidence linking Kenyatta to the Mau Mau, although convicted, he did not receive the death penalty, but was sentenced to several years of hard labour.

The government brought in British troops and formed a home guard of 20,000 Kikuyu. During this time, Louis played a difficult and contradictory role. He sided with the settlers, serving as their spokesman and intelligence officer, helping to ferret out bands of guerrillas. On the other hand, he continued to advocate for the Kikuyu in his 1954 book ''Defeating Mau Mau'' and numerous talks and articles. He recommended a multi-racial government, land reform in the highlands, a wage hike for the Kikuyu, and many other reforms, most of which were eventually adopted.

The government then realized the rebellion was being directed from urban centers, instituted [[martial law]] and detained the committees. Following Louis' suggestion, thousands of Kikuyu were placed in re-education camps and resettled in new villages. The rebellion continued from bases under [[Mount Kenya]] until 1956, when, deprived of its leadership and supplies, it had to disperse. The state of emergency lasted until 1960. In 1963 Kenya became independent, with Jomo Kenyatta as prime minister.<ref>This subsection is based on Morell's chapter 11, "Louis and Kenyatta".</ref>