Emperor Haile Selassie enters Ethiopia after five years in exile

1865, African American politician Adam Clayton Powell Sr., was born on this day. Powwel was the first African American to be elected as a Congressman to represent New York; he was also the house representative for Harlem, New York in the US House of Representative.

1925,The Riff rebels led by Abdel Krim (Muhammad Ibn 'Abd al-Karim al-Khattabi) engage in a fierce fight with French forces who were helping Spanish troops to quell the Moroccan rebellion against Spanish rule.

1936, Marshall Pietro Badoglio marches onto Addis Ababa following Italian defeat of Ethiopian troops at the battle of Ogaden a month earlier. Italy was accused of using illegal weapons including mustard bombs during the war.

1941, Emperor Haile Selassie leads an army of Ethiopian forces into Um Iddla, an Ethiopian village after being helped by Britain’s “Gideon Force” led by Colonel Orde Wingate to defeat Italian forces during the East Africa Campaign of WWII.


1953, Egyptian revolutionary forces abolish the 5,000 year monarchy in Egypt after taken control of the country from deposed king Farouk I.

1957, British actor, Author and Screen writer Richard E. Grant was born on this day in Mbabane, Swaziland. Grant’s father was an Afrikaner and his mother was a South African ballet teacher.

1988, Reverend Eugene Antonio Marino was named as the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Atlanta, Georgia. In this position, he became the first ever African American to be appointed by the Catholic Church as an Archbishop in the US.