On this day — August 29 in African history

Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

Michael Jackson, who would become one of the best-selling music artists in history and one of the most influential entertainers of the 20th century, was born in Gary, Indiana.

Sources: HISTORY ; BBC News ; Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

Dinah Washington, the influential jazz and blues vocalist known as the "Queen of the Blues," was born Ruth Lee Jones in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Sources: Encyclopedia of Alabama ; NPR ; Alabama Music Hall of Fame

Mohamed Amin, the Kenyan photojournalist whose harrowing footage of the 1984 Ethiopian famine helped spur the Live Aid relief effort, was born in Nairobi.

Sources: Al Jazeera ; The Conversation

Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

Sayyid Qutb, the Egyptian Islamist theorist whose writings influenced later militant movements, was executed by the Nasser government.

Sources: Columbia University Press (via Columbia International Affairs Online) ; Jurnal Pembangunan Sosial, Universiti Utara Malaysia ; ABC Religion & Ethics

Armed men killed civilians through the night at Rais, near Sidi Moussa south of Algiers, in one of the worst massacres of Algeria's civil war. The toll is heavily disputed: the initial official figure was 98, the government later told the UN 238, and hospital staff and witnesses quoted by news organisations gave figures ranging from 200 to 400 and higher.

Sources: Human Rights Watch ; BBC News