Ceiling of Debre Birhan Selassie church, Gondar, Ethiopia. Photo: Rod Waddington, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence · Source
Real events, births and milestones from Africa and the diaspora.
This page was corrected in October 2026 · see what changed
Public Domain (Libya), Wikimedia Commons Muammar Gaddafi led a bloodless coup that overthrew King Idris I of Libya, abolishing the monarchy and establishing the Libyan Arab Republic.
Sources: Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training ; Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State (FRUS) ; BBC News
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Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1961 Hamid Idris Awate and about eleven men attacked Ethiopian police at Mount Adal in the Barka lowlands, the first shots of the Eritrean armed struggle. Awate died the following year. Eritrea became independent in 1993, and 1 September is kept as the anniversary of the start of the war.
Sources: Face2Face Africa ; African American Registry
Independence
Public Domain / CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons 1975 Daniel "Chappie" James Jr. was promoted to four-star general, becoming the first African American to reach that rank in the U.S. military.
Sources: Air & Space Forces Magazine ; U.S. Department of State
History
Photo by Brian McMillen, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons 2018 Jazz pianist and composer Randy Weston, celebrated for infusing his music with African rhythms and often called "America's African Musical Ambassador," died in Brooklyn at age 92.
Sources: WBGO ; The Boston Globe ; JazzTimes
Death
Photo by Alex Bassano (1882), Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1873 Theophilus Shepstone, Natal's Secretary for Native Affairs, presided over a ceremony that purported to install Cetshwayo kaMpande as king of the Zulu Kingdom. Cetshwayo had succeeded his father Mpande, who died in 1872.
Sources: Journal of Natal and Zulu History ; Internet Archive
History
Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1981 Central African Republic President David Dacko was ousted in a bloodless military coup led by General André Kolingba.
Sources: International Crisis Group ; Andrew G. Reiter (Mount Holyoke College) ; Geddes, Wright & Frantz (Pennsylvania State University) ; BBC News
Politics
Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1943 Charles Atangana, the paramount chief of the Ewondo and Bane peoples who served as a key intermediary between colonial authorities and Cameroonian communities under both German and French rule, died in Yaoundé.
Sources: Dictionary of African Christian Biography ; Abbia: Revue culturelle camerounaise ; Osidimbea - La Memoire du Cameroun
DeathSir Garnet Wolseley told about two hundred Zulu gathered at the British camp that Cetshwayo had been sent into exile and that Zululand would be ruled by thirteen chiefs appointed by the British.
Sources: Internet Archive ; South African Historical Journal
Politics