On this day — May 13 in African history

Real events, births and milestones from Africa and the diaspora.

Robert Smalls, an enslaved Black man, commandeered the Confederate steamship Planter and delivere… Mathew Brady — Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1862

Robert Smalls, an enslaved Black man, commandeered the Confederate steamship Planter and delivered it to the Union Navy, an act that made him one of the most celebrated Black heroes of the American Civil War.

History
1943

Axis forces in Tunisia surrendered to the Allies, ending the North African campaign of World War II.

History
1958

French army officers seized power in Algiers, demanding Charles de Gaulle's return to lead France amid the Algerian War, a crisis that toppled France's Fourth Republic.

Politics