On this day — August 6 in African history

Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

Jamaica became independent from the United Kingdom after more than 300 years of colonial rule.

Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

US President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, outlawing discriminatory practices that had disenfranchised Black voters across the American South.

Library of Congress — Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

Susie King Taylor, who would become the first African-American Army nurse and the only Black woman to publish a memoir of her Civil War experiences, was born into slavery in Georgia.

Britain imposed the Lagos Treaty of Cession on the Kingdom of Lagos, annexing the port city in what is now Nigeria under the banner of suppressing the slave trade.

Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

A military junta led by Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz seized power in Mauritania, overthrowing elected President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi.

South African actress Connie Chiume, known internationally for her role as a tribal elder in "Black Panther," died at age 72.