Uganda gained independence from the United Kingdom, with Milton Obote as its first prime minister.
IndependenceOn this day — October 9 in African history
Real events, births and milestones from Africa and the diaspora.
CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons 1906 Léopold Sédar Senghor, poet and statesman who became the first President of Senegal, was born in Joal.
Birth
U.S. Air Force / French military — Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1895 Eugene Bullard, the first African-American military pilot, who flew for France in World War I, was born in Columbus, Georgia.
BirthMary Ann Shadd, abolitionist and the first Black woman newspaper publisher in North America, was born in Wilmington, Delaware.
BirthAn earthquake devastated the Algerian coastal city of Oran, killing an estimated 3,000 people and triggering a tsunami along the Mediterranean coast.
Disaster
Unknown author — Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1898 Tawfiq al-Hakim, Egyptian playwright and novelist regarded as a pioneer of modern Arabic drama, was born.
Birth
Photo by Tore Sætre — CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons 1934 Abdullah Ibrahim, South African jazz pianist and composer whose piece 'Mannenberg' became an anti-apartheid anthem, was born in Cape Town.
Birth
Photo by Auto-épreuve — CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons 2004 Jacques Derrida, Algerian-born French philosopher who founded the school of deconstruction, died in Paris.
DeathSolomon Lar, Nigerian politician who served as governor of Plateau State and became founding chairman of the People's Democratic Party, died.
Death