On this day — January 15 in African history

Alpha Kappa Alpha was founded at Howard University, becoming the first Greek-letter organization established by African American college women.

Sources: BlackPast ; African American Registry

Photo by Eliot Elisofon — Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

Nigeria's First Republic was overthrown in a military coup, and Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was assassinated along with several regional leaders.

Sources: Cambridge University Press ; Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State

Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

Biafran leader Philip Effiong formally surrendered to Nigerian General Yakubu Gowon at a ceremony in Lagos, ending the Nigerian Civil War after 30 months of fighting.

Sources: Britannica ; International Journal of History and Philosophical Research (O. S. Osadola, Federal University Oye-Ekiti, 2022)

The Alvor Agreement was signed, granting Angola independence from Portugal and setting the stage for the Angolan Civil War among rival independence movements.

Sources: Jacobin ; CEDIS, NOVA School of Law, Universidade Nova de Lisboa ; Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State

Ingoman (James Dahl) — Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

Al-Shabaab fighters overran a Kenyan army base at El Adde in Somalia, inflicting the heaviest single loss in the Kenya Defence Forces' history. Kenya never published a death toll. Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud put the Kenyan dead at 180 or close to 200, a community leader in El Adde told the BBC he had counted about 190 bodies, two officials familiar with the recovery operation told CNN at least 141 died, and al-Shabaab claimed about 100.

Sources: International Peace Institute ; BBC News ; CNN

Moshoeshoe II, King of Lesotho, died in a car accident at age 57.

Sources: Britannica ; South African History Online