Miriam Makeba (4 March 1932 – 9 November 2008) was a South African singer, actor, and civil rights activist. She was a vocal opponent of apartheid and white-minority government, in South Africa and elsewhere. Associated with genres including afropop, jazz, and world music, she began singing professionally in the 1950s. She had a brief role in the anti-apartheid film Come Back, Africa (1959), which led to performances in Venice, London, and New York City. Makeba moved to the United States, where her career flourished, and released several albums and songs, including the hit "Pata Pata" (1967). She and Harry Belafonte received a Grammy Award for their 1965 album An Evening with Belafonte/Makeba. Her 1968 marriage to Stokely Carmichael of the Black Panther Party was not well received in the US, and she moved to Guinea, where she wrote and performed music more explicitly critical of apartheid. Nicknamed Mama Africa, she was one of the first African musicians to receive worldwide recognition. Her music, in Nelson Mandela's words, "inspired a powerful sense of hope in all of us".

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miriam_Makeba

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

306:

Roman Herculian guard Adrian of Nicomedia, who had converted to Christianity after being impressed with the faith of Christians that he had been torturing, was martyred. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_and_Natalia_of_Nicomedia

1804:

Irish convicts who were involved at the Battle of Vinegar Hill during the 1798 Irish Rebellion began an uprising against British colonial authorities in New South Wales, Australia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Hill_convict_rebellion

1918:

The first known case of the so-called Spanish flu was first observed at Fort Riley, Kansas. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918_flu_pandemic

1933:

All three presidents of the Austrian National Council resigned, and Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss later used that pretext to create an authoritarian government. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-elimination_of_the_Austrian_Parliament

2012:

A series of blasts occurred at an arms dump in Brazzaville, Congo, killing at least 250 people, injuring 2,300 others, and leaving more than 13,800 people homeless. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazzaville_arms_dump_blasts

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

scene-stealing: That steals the scene (“dominates a performance through charisma, humour, or powerful acting”). https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scene-stealing

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

The greatest barrier to consciousness is the belief that one is already conscious.   --P. D. Ouspensky https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/P._D._Ouspensky