Critics claimed this document, too, was forged, based primarily on three arguments:
* The country of Kenya did not exist until 1963.
* The Kapi'olani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital was not known by that name until 1978.
* A birth certificate from 1961 would not have listed "African" as a race (rather than "Negro" or "Black").
All of these arguments are erroneous. The country now known as the East African republic of Kenya became a British protectorate referred to as Kenya in 1895, obtained colonial status in 1920, and gained full independence from Britain in 1963. The Kapi'olani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital was known by that name between 1931 and 1971 (after which its name was shortened to Kapi'olani Hospital). And although "Negro" was the typical demographic term used for American blacks in the early 1960s, "African" was commonly used for blacks who (like Barack Obama's father) were actually native-born Africans.