R. L. Oliver, Los Angeles Times / UCLA Library — CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons 1924 Writer James Baldwin, whose essays and novels powerfully explored race and identity in America, was born in Harlem, New York.
BirthOn this day — August 2 in African history
Real events, births and milestones from Africa and the diaspora.
R. L. Oliver, Los Angeles Times / UCLA Library — CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons 1924 .svg)
Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1998 The Second Congo War began when a mutiny against President Laurent-Désiré Kabila triggered a conflict that drew in nine African nations and became the deadliest war in modern African history.
ConflictThe Battle of the Nile concluded in a decisive British naval victory over Napoleon's fleet at Aboukir Bay, Egypt, cementing British control of the Mediterranean.
History
Auguste Couder, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1849 Muhammad Ali Pasha, the Ottoman-Albanian commander and viceroy who modernized Egypt's military, economy, and administration, died in Alexandria.
DeathSomali warlord and former president Mohamed Farrah Aidid, who had led resistance to US and UN forces during the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, died of wounds in Mogadishu.
Death
Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1997 Fela Kuti, the Nigerian musician who pioneered Afrobeat and used his music to criticize military rule and corruption, died in Lagos.
DeathAhmed Zewail, the Egyptian-American chemist who won the 1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for pioneering femtochemistry, died in the United States.
Death