CC0, Wikimedia Commons 1939 Claudette Colvin, who at age 15 refused to give up her bus seat in Montgomery, Alabama nine months before Rosa Parks, was born.
BirthOn this day — September 5 in African history
Real events, births and milestones from Africa and the diaspora.
CC0, Wikimedia Commons 1939 
Photo by Carl Lender — CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons 1946 Freddie Mercury, future frontman of the rock band Queen, was born Farrokh Bulsara on the island of Zanzibar, East Africa.
Birth.jpg)
CC0, Wikimedia Commons 1960 Congolese President Joseph Kasa-Vubu dismissed Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba by radio broadcast, a disputed move that plunged the newly independent Congo into political crisis.
Politics
CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, Wikimedia Commons 1960 Léopold Sédar Senghor was unanimously elected the first president of the newly independent Republic of Senegal.
Independence
Photo by Ira Rosenberg, New York World-Telegram & Sun — Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1960 18-year-old Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali, won the light-heavyweight boxing gold medal at the Rome Olympics.
SportsGuinean President Alpha Condé was captured by armed forces in a coup d'état led by Colonel Mamady Doumbouya after gunfire broke out around the presidential palace in Conakry.
Politics