On this day — June 3 in African history

A passenger plane crashed into a residential neighborhood in Lagos, Nigeria, killing all 153 people aboard plus several on the ground, in one of Nigeria's deadliest aviation disasters.

Sudanese security forces and allied militiamen stormed a pro-democracy sit-in in Khartoum, killing scores of protesters in what became known as the Khartoum massacre.

Charles Lwanga and companions, a group of Christian converts executed on the orders of the Buganda king for refusing to renounce their faith, are commemorated each year on this date as the Uganda Martyrs.

Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

Louis Faidherbe, the French general and colonial governor whose administration reshaped Senegal and expanded French control in West Africa, was born.