On this day — August 14 in African history

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

1966

Actress Halle Berry, who in 2002 became the first woman of African descent to win the Academy Award for Best Actress, was born in Cleveland, Ohio.

Sources: Biography.com (A&E Networks) ; ABC News

Birth
2013

Egyptian security forces cleared the Rab'a al-Adawiya sit-in in Cairo, where supporters of the ousted president Mohamed Morsi had camped for weeks. Human Rights Watch documented at least 817 people killed there in a single day and judged the real figure likely to be above 1,000, part of at least 1,150 protesters killed that summer. Interior ministry planning had anticipated deaths in the thousands, and the prime minister said afterwards that the government had expected far worse than what happened. Not one police or army officer has been held to account.

Sources: Human Rights Watch ; Human Rights Watch

Conflict