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>
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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>
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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>
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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>