Jomo Kenyatta (c. 1897 – 1978) was an anti-colonial activist and politician who governed Kenya as its prime minister from 1963 to 1964 and then as its first president from 1964 to his death in 1978. He was the country's first indigenous head of government and played a significant role in the transformation of Kenya from a colony of the British Empire into an independent republic. In 1947, he began lobbying for independence from British colonial rule through the Kenya African Union, attracting widespread indigenous support. In 1952, he was among the Kapenguria Six arrested and charged with masterminding the anti- colonial Mau Mau Uprising. Although protesting his innocence—a view shared by later historians—he was convicted. Upon his release in 1961, he led the Kenya African National Union party until his death. During his presidency, he secured support from both the black majority and white minority with his message of reconciliation.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jomo_Kenyatta
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1862:
U.S. president Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring the freedom of all slaves in Confederate territory by January 1, 1863. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emancipation_Proclamation
1922:
After nine days, the great fire of Smyrna was extinguished (aftermath pictured), having caused at least ten thousand deaths. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_fire_of_Smyrna
1980:
The Iraqi Air Force launched surprise airstrikes on ten Iranian airfields, starting the Iran–Iraq War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Iraq_War
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
martial: 1. (comparable) Of, relating to, or suggestive of war; warlike. 2. (comparable) Connected with or relating to armed forces or the profession of arms or military life. 3. (comparable) Characteristic of or befitting a warrior; having a military bearing; soldierly. 4. (not comparable, astrology, obsolete) Pertaining to the astrological influence of the planet Mars. 5. (not comparable, astronomy, obsolete) Of or relating to the planet Mars; Martian. 6. (not comparable, chemistry, medicine, obsolete) Containing, or relating to, iron (which was symbolically associated with the planet Mars by alchemists); chalybeate, ferric, ferrous. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/martial
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Cheerful with wisdom, with innocence gay, And calm with your joys gently glide thro' the day. The dews of the evening most carefully shun — Those tears of the sky for the loss of the sun. --Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philip_Stanhope,_4th_Earl_of_Chesterfield