Independence declared by Upper Volta
Upper Volta—now Burkina Faso (which means “Land of Incorruptible People”), a landlocked country in western Africa—proclaimed its independence on this day in 1960, ending more than 60 years of French rule. 1960.
Sheikh Hasina Wazed, Bangladesh‘s five-term prime minister, fled the country amid mass protests against her government; Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel laureate, was named the country’s interim leader. 2024.
American writer Toni Morrison, who earned a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993 for novels that examine the Black experience (particularly Black female experience) within the Black community, died at age 88. 2019.
Thai businesswoman and politician Yingluck Shinawatra was elected prime minister of Thailand, becoming the first woman to hold that post. 2011.
The United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom signed the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty in Moscow. 1963.
In his last public stunt, American magician Harry Houdini stayed in an underwater airtight coffin for some 90 minutes; he bested rival magician Rahman Bey’s time of one hour. 1926.
