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.
Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons Bechuanaland gained independence from Britain and became the Republic of Botswana, with Seretse Khama as its first president.
Sources: UK National Archives / legislation.gov.uk ; Embassy of the Republic of Botswana, Washington D.C.
Read the full article: Botswana's 1966 Independence and Its Record of Democratic Stability
Independence
Photo by Tom Marcello, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons 1933 Cissy Houston, the Grammy-winning gospel singer, backing vocalist for Aretha Franklin and Elvis Presley, and mother of Whitney Houston, was born in Newark, New Jersey.
Sources: The Guardian ; The Irish Times ; NPR
Birth
Photo by Steve Lipofsky, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons 2024 Dikembe Mutombo, the Congolese-American basketball Hall of Famer renowned as much for his humanitarian work building hospitals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as for his defensive dominance in the NBA, died of brain cancer at age 58.
Sources: Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame ; NBA ; NPR
Death