Laurent Dabos — Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1775 An anonymous essay, 'African Slavery in America,' thought to be written by Thomas Paine, was published, becoming one of the first American calls for the abolition of slavery.
SlaveryOn this day — March 8 in African history
Real events, births and milestones from Africa and the diaspora.
Laurent Dabos — Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1775 
Philip James de Loutherbourg — Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1801 At the Battle of Abukir, a British force landed in Egypt aiming to end the French occupation begun under Napoleon.
War
DF-SC-83-02204.jpg: Templeton derivative work: César (talk) — Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1937 Juvénal Habyarimana, President of Rwanda whose 1994 assassination triggered the Rwandan genocide, was born.
Birth
The Library of Congress — Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1993 Billy Eckstine, pioneering African-American jazz singer and bandleader, died.
DeathAthol Fugard, South African playwright who chronicled apartheid and its aftermath in works like 'Master Harold... and the Boys,' died.
Death