In the 1960s, Kenyan Minister, Thomas Mboya worked with President John F. Kennedy in a campaign of airlifts, that took hundreds of African students to USA for higher education including Noble Peace Prize winner, Wangari Maathai & former US President Obama's dad, Barack Obama Sr.

Thomas Mboya, a Kenyan unionist and founding father became the first Kenyan to be appear on the cover of TIME Magazine on March 7, 1960.

He was assassinated on July 5, 1969.