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.
Public Domain (family photo), Wikimedia Commons 1892 Vernon Johns, African-American minister and early civil rights pioneer who preceded Martin Luther King Jr. as pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, was born in Darlington Heights, Virginia.
Sources: Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute, Stanford University ; Encyclopedia.com (Contemporary Black Biography, Gale)
Corrected in September 2026 · see what changed
BirthPaul Chambers, influential African-American jazz double bassist known for his work with Miles Davis and John Coltrane, was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Sources: Encyclopedia.com (Contemporary Musicians, Gale) ; All About Jazz ; African American Registry (aaregistry.org)
Birth
Premium Times, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons 1938 Gani Fawehinmi, Nigerian human rights lawyer and pro-democracy activist known for challenging successive military governments, was born in Ondo, Nigeria.
Sources: The Independent ; Gani Fawehinmi Organisation (gani.ng)
Birth
Bettmann Archive, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1950 Charles Hamilton Houston, African-American lawyer and dean of Howard University Law School whose legal strategy laid the groundwork for the end of segregation, died in Washington, D.C.
Sources: National Park Service (U.S.) ; Howard University School of Law
Death