The Kikuyu Central Association was founded in 1924 to fight for land rights, education, and political representation. It was led by mission-educated Kikuyu who understood how colonial power worked and how to challenge it. The KCA sent Jomo Kenyatta to London in 1929 to represent their grievances. It ran independent schools when missionary schools insisted on banning female circumcision. It organized political consciousness at the grassroots. The British banned the KCA in 1940, but by then it had laid the foundation for mass politics. Every Kikuyu leader who came after, Kenyatta included, emerged from the KCA.