Ceiling of Debre Birhan Selassie church, Gondar, Ethiopia. Photo: Rod Waddington, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence · Source
Real events, births and milestones from Africa and the diaspora.
CC BY 2.5, Wikimedia Commons 1997 An armed group attacked the village of Thalit, near Ksar Boukhari south of Algiers, over the night of 3 to 4 April, killed more than 50 of its inhabitants and burned the houses. Reports at the time said one villager survived. The attackers were not identified and no group claimed the killings.
Sources: Justice Commission for Algeria ; Human Rights Watch
Corrected in September 2026 · see what changed
History
Nobel Foundation (photo by Bernie Faingold), Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his final speech, 'I've Been to the Mountaintop,' in Memphis, Tennessee, the night before his assassination.
Sources: Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, Stanford University ; National Park Service (U.S. Department of the Interior)
Culture
Jeff Egnaczyk, derivative by Lpdrew, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons 1975 Michael Olowokandi, Nigerian-born basketball player who became the first overall pick in the 1998 NBA draft, was born in Lagos, Nigeria.
Sources: National Basketball Association (NBA.com) ; Sports Reference (Basketball-Reference.com) ; Eurobasket
Birth
Sahmejil, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1978 John Smit, South African rugby union player who captained the Springboks to victory in the 2007 Rugby World Cup, was born in Pietersburg, now Polokwane, South Africa.
Sources: Springbok Rugby History (bokhist.com) ; The South African
Corrected in September 2026 · see what changed
Birth