People, Locations, Episodes

Cooper v. Aaron is Ruled

*On this date in 1958, Cooper v. Aaron, 358 U.S. was decided.  This landmark United States Supreme Court decision denied the Arkansas School Board the right to delay desegregation for 30 months.  The Warren Court handed down a per curiam decision which held that the Court’s decisions bind the states and must enforce them even […]

Guinea Gains its Independence From France

*On this date in 1958, Guinea gained its independence from France.  Self-governing occurred 74 years after the 1884 invasion from the Berlin Conference, the high point of white-European competition for territory in Africa, a process commonly known as the Scramble for Africa.  That year, the French Fourth Republic collapsed due to political instability and its failures in dealing with […]

Letitia James, Attorney, and Activist born

*Letitia James was born on this date in 1958.  She is a Black lawyer, activist, and politician.   Letitia Ann “Tish” James was born in Brooklyn. She is one of eight children born to Nellie James in Martinsville, Virginia, and Robert James. She attended New York City public schools and received her B.A. from the City University […]

Michael Steele, Public Policy Administrator, born

*Michael Steele was born on this date in 1958. He is a Black attorney, political commentator, teacher, and Republican Party politician. Michael Stephen Steele was born at Andrews Air Force Base in Prince George’s County, Maryland, and was adopted as an infant by William and Maebell Steele. His father died in 1962. Born into a […]

The Pan Africanist Congress of Azania is formed

*The Pan Africanist Congress of Azania was formed on this date in 1959. Often shortened to the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), it is a South African pan-Africanist national liberation movement that has evolved into a political party. It was founded by an Africanist group, led by Robert Sobukwe, that broke away from the African National […]

Jean Gregorie Sagbo, Russian Politician born

*Jean Sagbo, born on this date in 1959, is a Black Russian real estate agent and politician. Jean Gregoire Sagbo was born in Cotonou in the southern coastal region of the Republic of Dahomey (Benin). He immigrated to the USSR in 1982 to study economics in Moscow. He married a woman from Novozavidovo, a town […]

Donna Brazile, Political Strategist born

Donna Brazile was born on this date in 1959. She is an African American author, educator, and political activist and strategist affiliated with the Democratic Party.

Brazile was born in New Orleans, LA, to Lionele and Jean Brazile, the third of nine children. She became interested in politics when at age nine a local candidate for office promised to build a neighborhood playground.

Senegal Gains Independence From France

*On this date in 1960, Senegal and French Sudan merged to form the Mali Federation, which became fully independent.    Senegal was first colonized during the 15th century by major European powers: the French, Dutch, Portuguese, and British.  It is also the location of Goree Island, one of the first ports of departure for the Middle Passage of slavery to […]

Samia Nkrumah, Administrator and Politician born

*Samia Nkrumah was born on this date in 1960. She is a Black politician and administrator. Samia Yaba Christina Nkrumah was born in Aburi, Ghana’s Eastern Region. The second child of Kwame Nkrumah, she was forced to leave Ghana with her mother and brothers on the day of the 1966 military coup that overthrew her father. […]

Madagascar Gains Independence From France

*On this date in 1960, Madagascar became an independent country from France, and Philibert Tsiranana became its first president. Seventy-six years after the Berlin Conference, the high point of white European competition for African territory was a process commonly known as the Scramble for Africa.   The Malagasy Republic, proclaimed on October 14, 1958, became an autonomous state […]

The Democratic Republic of the Congo Gains Independence From Belgium

*On this date in 1960, the Democratic Republic of the Congo gained independence from Belgium.  Patrice Lumumba, leader of the MNC-L, became the first Prime Minister.   In the fallout from the Léopoldville riots, the report of a Belgian parliamentary working group on the future of the Congo was published, and a strong demand for “internal autonomy” was noted. […]

Somalia Gains Independence From Britain

On this date in 1960, Somalia gained its independence from Britain.

Situated in the horn of East Africa, early on Somalia’s economy was based upon the nomadic herding of animals. From the time of America’s Reconstruction (1870s) until World War II (1942), Britain gained control over the Italian portions of Somalia. In 1887, Britain became concerned with keeping the route to India open through the Suez Canal, which was opened in 1869, and as a result, Britain proclaimed Somalia as a British protectorate and named it British Somaliland.

The Ivory Coast Gains Independence From France

*On this date in 1960, Ivory Coast achieved full independence from France, and Félix Houphouët-Boigny became the first president after the independence. Leading to the transfer of power, the Ivory Coast became a member state within the French Community on December 4, 1958. Students in the 1960s and 1970s began to organize into student activist groups, some of which opposed the Houphouet-Boigny […]

Chad Gains Independence From France

*On this date in 1960 Chad gained its independence from France. The Republic of Chad is a large landlocked country in west central Africa, formerly a part of French Equatorial Africa.

The Central African Republic Gains Independence From France

*The Central African Republic gained independence from France on this date in 1960. They are a landlocked country in Central Africa. Its bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, DR Congo to the south, the Republic of the Congo to the southwest, and Cameroon to the west. Approximately 10,000 years ago, desertification forced hunter-gatherer societies south into the Sahel […]