On this day — April 7 in African history

Fanny Schertzer — CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

The Rwandan genocide began in earnest as massacres of Tutsis started in Kigali and soldiers assassinated Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana; over the next 100 days, hundreds of thousands were killed.

Booker T. Washington became the first African American to be depicted on a United States postage stamp.

Francoist Spain agreed to surrender its protectorate in Morocco, completing the process of Moroccan independence begun weeks earlier with France.

Dutch National Archives (ANeFo) — CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

Abeid Karume, the first President of Zanzibar and a key architect of the union that formed Tanzania, was assassinated in Zanzibar City.

Babatunde Olatunji, Nigerian-American drummer and educator whose album 'Drums of Passion' introduced African percussion to a global audience, was born in Ajido, Nigeria.