On this day: February 19 in African history

The first Pan-African Congress opened in Paris, organized by W. E. B. Du Bois to press for African self-determination after World War I.

Sources: Library of Congress ; W. E. B. Du Bois, The Crisis (reproduced by Dare You Fight)

Two Eritreans, Abraham Debotch and Mogus Asghedom, threw grenades at Rodolfo Graziani, the Italian viceroy, during a ceremony in Addis Ababa, wounding him and killing seven others. Italian forces and blackshirts then went through the city for three days killing Ethiopians. Ethiopian sources put the dead at 30,000; Ian Campbell's 2017 study of the massacre arrived at about 19,200, a fifth of the city's population; other estimates run from 1,400 to 6,000.

Sources: Jacobin ; Ethiopian News Agency

Corrected in September 2026 · see what changed

The Battle of Kasserine Pass began in Tunisia during World War II's North African Campaign.

Sources: The National WWII Museum ; historyofwar.org (John Rickard)

At least eighteen protesters were killed by South African police in Crossroads near Cape Town over 18-19 February 1985 as residents resisted forced removals to Khayelitsha.

Sources: Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa, Final Report (SAHA archive) ; South African History Online

Corrected in September 2026 · see what changed

CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

Sone Aluko, English-Nigerian international footballer, was born.

Sources: National Football Teams ; Afrik-Foot