July is an awesome month; not only that, it is the 7th and mid-month of the year with lots of hopes.
There are some historical events that have happened in this month over the years. Below are some of them;
- In July 1960, Sir Adesoji Aderemi (Ooni of Ife 1930 -1980) became the 1st Nigerian and 1st African to be appointed Governor in the Commonwealth. Sir Aderemi got this position before Nigeria gained its independence.
- On July 6th, 1967, the first shots that started the Biafra War were fired. The war which lasted more than two years, claimed millions of lives. The war, led by late Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, broke out when the Igbos launched a rebellion to form a separate state following allegations of ethnic cleansing.
- July is actually named after Julius Caesar, because it is his birth month. This decision was made by the Roman Senate in 44BC. Before this, the month was known as Quintilis (fifth), being the fifth month in the Roman calendar.
- Although it’s easy to assume the midpoint of the year is sometime between June 30th and July 1st, this isn’t the case. The exact halfway point occurs at 1 pm BST on July 3 in a non-leap year.
- On July 16, 1945, the first atomic bomb was set off by scientists in Alamogordo, New Mexico of course, back then it was called ‘The Gadget’ because it wasn’t to be used as a weapon. The Gadget was an implosion-type plutonium device, similar in design to the Fat Man bomb used three weeks later in the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan.
- July 2, 1917 – A race riot occurred in St. Louis, Missouri, resulting in an estimated 75 African Americans killed and hundreds injured. To protest the violence against blacks, W.E.B. DuBois and James Weldon Johnson later led a silent march down Fifth Avenue in New York.
- The first African American on the U.S. Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993) was born in Baltimore, Maryland. Nominated by President Johnson, he began his 24-year career on the High Court in 1967.
- Cecil J. Rhodes (1853-1902) was born at Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire, England. As a South African millionaire and politician, he was said to have once controlled 90 percent of the world’s diamond production. His will established the Rhodes Scholarships at Oxford University for young scholars aged 18-25. Rhodesia was also named for him.
- Baseball pitcher Leroy R. (Satchel) Paige (1906-1982) was born in Mobile, Alabama. Following a career in the Negro Leagues, he became, at age 42, the first African American pitcher in the American League. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971.
- Nelson Mandela was born the son of a Tembu tribal chieftain on July 18, 1918, at Qunu, near Umtata, in South Africa. He became a lawyer, joined the African National Congress (ANC) in 1944, eventually becoming deputy national president in 1952. In 1964, he was convicted for sabotage as a result of his participation in the struggle against apartheid. He spent the next 28 years in jail, but remained a symbol of hope to South Africa’s non-white majority. Released in 1990, he was elected was elected President of South Africa in 1994 in the first election in which all races participated.
