Jomo Kenyatta jailed for Mau Mau uprising in Kenya

On April 8, 1904, with war in Europe a decade away, Britain and France sign an agreement, later known as the Entente Cordiale, resolving long-standing colonial disputes in North Africa and establishing a diplomatic understanding between the two countries. Formally entitled a Declaration between the United Kingdom and France Respecting Egypt and Morocco, the Entente […]

On April 8, 1944, Russian forces led by Marshal Fyodor Tolbukhin attack the German army in an attempt to win back Crimea, in the southern Ukraine, occupied by the Axis power. The attack would result in the breaking of German defensive lines in just four days, eventually sending the Germans retreating. Crimea was the territorial […]

On April 8, 1975, against the New York Yankees in Cleveland, the Indians’ Frank Robinson becomes the first African American to manage a game in Major League Baseball. Robinson, who also bats second, homers in his first at-bat in Cleveland’s 5-3 win. Nearly 28 years earlier, the Brooklyn Dodgers’ Jackie Robinson—no relation to Frank—became the […]

On April 8, 1989, California Angels rookie pitcher Jim Abbott, who was born without a right hand, makes his Major League Baseball debut in a 7-0 loss to the Seattle Mariners. His debut generates a buzz throughout the sports world. “Maybe I was unnerved by all the attention,” Abbott tells reporters afterward. The Chicago Tribune […]

On April 8, 1990, David Lynch’s surreal television drama “Twin Peaks” premieres on ABC, launching the question “Who killed Laura Palmer?” into the cultural zeitgeist. The naked body of the blonde homecoming queen was found washed up on the shore wrapped in plastic in the show’s opening episode, throwing the residents of the small Pacific […]

On April 8, 1994, rock star Kurt Cobain is found dead in his home in Seattle, Washington, with fresh injection marks in both arms and a fatal wound to the head from the 20-gauge shotgun found between his knees. Cobain’s suicide brought an end to a life marked by far more suffering than is generally […]

On April 8, 2009, the MV Maersk Alabama is hijacked off the coast of Somalia. The high-profile incident drew worldwide attention to the problem of piracy, commonly believed to be a thing of the past, in the waters off the Horn of Africa. Pirates had not captured a ship sailing under the American flag since […]