The College was part of a movement for ethnic minority groups in the United States to have dedicated academic programs to train themselves in the theory and practice of liberation, resistance, and revolution.
Prominent advocates for this movement included graduate student Angela Davis and professors Herbert Marcuse of the University of California San Diego and Carlos Blanco of Thurgood Marshall College.
[4] Nairobi College began classes in the fall of 1969 with initial funding of $100,000 donated by area residents and private foundations.
[9] All students were required to utilize their training to provide skilled volunteer work three hours per week in support of area social organizations, such as schools, community health centers, and legal aid.
[9][6][a] Instructors included Ed Roberts, a disability rights activist,[10] Tello Nkhereanye, a leftist from South Africa, Frank Omowale Satterwhite, a community organizer, Aaron Manganello, a Marxist minister of education for the Brown Berets, and Mary Hoover, a Stanford academic advocate for African-American English.