On this day in 1966, Lesotho, formerly Basutoland, became independent from British rule, with King Moshoeshoe II as head of state and Chief Leabua Jonathan as prime minister.

"Y'all act like this country was good and then got bad This country ain't never been no good!" —Dick Gregory

Joseph Clovese, aged 105, arriving at the final encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic in 1949. Clovese was the last surviving member of the USCT. He was born enslaved in Louisiana and served with Company C of the 63rd US Colored Troops. He died at Dearborn Veterans Hospital on July 13, 1951.

2nd October 1800 — Nat Turner was born in the Tidewater region of Virginia. He was an anti-slavery revolutioniary, an insurrectionist and started one of the deadliest slave revolt in the U.S. Around early 1828, he was convinced that he “was ordained for some great purpose in the hands of the Almighty”. A solar eclipse and an unusual atmospheric event and is what inspired Nat Turner to start his insurrection, which began on August 21, 1831. Nat Turner believed God was showing him a sign by putting a black man hand over the Sun. Its been known for thousands of years solar eclipse give off energy. On August 21, he began the rebellion with a few trusted fellow enslaved men. The rebels traveled from house to house, freeing enslaved people and killing their White owners. Turner’s rebellion was suppressed within two days and he was captured October 30. On November 5, he was convicted and sentenced to death and was hanged November 11, 1831. The state executed 56 other Black men suspected of being involved in the uprising and another 200 Black people, most of whom had nothing to do with the uprising, were beaten, tortured, and murdered by angry White mobs. The Virginia General Assembly passed new laws making it unlawful to teach enslaved or free Black or Mulatto (mixed) people to read or write and restricting Black people from holding religious meetings without the presence of a licensed White minister.

“If you can only be tall because somebody’s on their knees, you have a serious problem.” —Toni Morrison

Charles Brooks, a resident of Newark, N.J, is credited with inventing the street sweeping trucks in 1896. Street sweeping was a manual job until he invented the self-propelled street sweeper.