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.
Painting by Beatrice Playne, Addis Ababa University, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1935 Italian forces invaded Ethiopia without a declaration of war, beginning the Second Italo-Ethiopian War.
Sources: World History Encyclopedia ; Library of Congress Country Studies
PoliticsA US raid to seize aides of Mohamed Farrah Aidid turned into a night-long fight after two Black Hawk helicopters were shot down. Eighteen American soldiers were killed and more than seventy wounded. Somali dead are put at 315 by Aidid, a figure the Red Cross called plausible, at 300 to 500 by US task force estimates, and at 500 to 1,500 by others. The United States announced its withdrawal within days.
Sources: Modern War Institute at West Point ; BlackPast
Corrected in September 2026 · see what changed
Politics
Photo by Vogler, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons 1991 Nadine Gordimer, South African novelist and anti-apartheid activist, was announced as the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Sources: Nobel Prize (Nobel Foundation) ; South African History Online
CultureKomla Dumor, Ghanaian journalist who became a leading BBC World News broadcaster, was born in Accra.
Sources: BBC News ; The Guardian
BirthMichael Adekunle Ajasin, Nigerian educator and politician who served as governor of Ondo State, died.
Sources: The Nation (Nigeria) ; The Guardian (Nigeria) ; Nigerian Tribune
Death