Kleist Sykes was a Tanganyikan political activist.
15 Facts About Kleist Sykes
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Kleist Sykes met Dr James Aggrey, a Ghanaian teacher, who inspired Sykes to form the Tanganyika African Association in 1929.
3.
Kleist Sykes was the first African to join the Tanganyika Chamber of Commerce, and the second African to serve in colonial Dar es Salaam's Municipal Council.
4.
Kleist Sykes had three sons, Abdulwahid, Ally, and Abbas, who would have prominent careers in Tanzania.
5.
Kleist Sykes was known as Kleist Plantan, after taking the name Plantan from Effendi Plantan, a relative who brought up our father after the death of his father Sykes Mbuwane.
6.
Kleist Sykes would sit outside his house with his friends and order endless cups of coffee as it was sold by vendors making the rounds in Dar es Salaam.
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Kleist Sykes had left his mark on the history of Dar es Salaam.
8.
Kleist Sykes had founded the African Association which had propelled Africans into politics and he had founded Al Jamiatul Islamiyya fi Tanganyika, the Muslim organisation which not only stood up against the threat of Christian missionaries, but laid the foundation for future organisation of Muslims as a political entity.
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Kleist Sykes had initiated a plan to build a school for Muslim children of Dar es Salaam so that Muslim children could get education without the fear of being converted to Christianity were they to be enrolled in missionary schools.
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Kleist Sykes organized Muslims to contribute money for the school and this they did with relish.
11.
Kleist Sykes served on the Dar es Salaam Municipal Council, the second African to do so in colonial Tanganyika.
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Kleist Sykes successfully ventured into business which was the monopoly and domain of Asians.
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Kleist Sykes joined the Chamber of Commerce and was probably the first African to do so.
14.
Kleist Sykes did more than his share in the political development of Africans of Tanganyika.
15.
The death of Kleist Sykes signaled the end of an era and the emerging of a new one.