British colonial forces declared the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya defeated after the capture of rebel leader Dedan Kimathi.
Sources: Imperial War Museums ; BBC News ; Deutsche Welle ; Journal of Conflict Studies (University of New Brunswick)
PoliticsOn this day — October 21 in African history
Real events, births and milestones from Africa and the diaspora.
General Siad Barre seized power in a bloodless military coup in Somalia, beginning 21 years of authoritarian rule.
Sources: U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian (Foreign Relations of the United States) ; Encyclopaedia Britannica
Politics
CC BY-SA 2.5, Wikimedia Commons 1918 Albertina Sisulu, South African anti-apartheid activist and nurse who co-led the 1956 Women's March, was born.
Sources: South African History Online ; Government Communication and Information System (South Africa)
Birth
NASA — Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1950 Ronald McNair, the second African-American to travel to space, who died in the 1986 Challenger disaster, was born.
Sources: NASA ; Challenger Center for Space Science Education
BirthIsabelle Eberhardt, Swiss-born writer and explorer who documented Algerian society, died in a flash flood in Ain Sefra, Algeria.
Sources: Archives nationales d'outre-mer (France) ; Encyclopedia.com (Gale, Dictionary of Women Worldwide)
Death