ABSTRACT
Mekatalili was not a traditional ruler, but she was a good listener and a charismatic speaker. In the early 1900s the British colonial administrators in Kenya forced the Giriama, a coastal group, to pay taxes and to supply ivory. In 1912 when they demanded free labor for British plantations and government projects, Mekatalili passionately appealed to her people to resist. As a result, the Giriama refused to supply more labor, which led to a devastating chain of events explored in this chapter.
