On this day: October 4 in African history

Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

Basutoland gained full independence from the United Kingdom and was renamed the Kingdom of Lesotho.

Sources: legislation.gov.uk (The National Archives, UK) ; South African History Online

Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

The Rome General Peace Accords were signed, ending Mozambique's 16-year civil war.

Sources: PA-X Peace Agreements Database (University of Edinburgh) ; Peace Accords Matrix (University of Notre Dame)

Read the full article: Mozambique's Civil War: A Proxy Fight Rhodesia Started and South Africa Inherited

Basil D'Oliveira, South African-born cricketer whose exclusion from an England tour of South Africa exposed apartheid's grip on sport, was born in Cape Town.

Sources: South African History Online ; BBC Sport

U.S. News & World Report / Library of Congress, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

H. Rap Brown (later Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin), American civil rights activist and SNCC chairman, was born.

Sources: SNCC Digital Gateway (Duke University) ; U.S. National Archives

U.S. National Archives, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

Bernice Johnson Reagon, American singer and civil rights activist who founded the a cappella group Sweet Honey in the Rock, was born.

Sources: National Women's History Museum ; New Georgia Encyclopedia (University of Georgia)

Stan Mudenge, Zimbabwean historian and longtime foreign affairs minister, died.

Sources: South African Government (gov.za) ; Commonwealth Oral History Project (King's College London)

Ulric Cross, Trinidadian RAF navigator, judge and diplomat who later served newly independent African governments including Ghana and Cameroon, died.

Sources: RAF Benevolent Fund ; The Independent