Evelyn Mase (1922–2004) was a South African nurse who was the first
wife of the anti-apartheid activist and later president Nelson Mandela,
to whom she was married from 1944 to 1958. Born in Engcobo, Transkei,
Mase moved to Johannesburg to train as a nurse, and there met and
married Mandela. Living together in Soweto, they raised four children;
three of them—Thembekile, Makgatho, and Makaziwe—survived into
adulthood. In the 1950s, her relationship with Mandela became strained;
they separated in 1956 and divorced in 1958. Mase moved to Cofimvaba
with the children and opened a grocery store. She spoke to reporters in
1990, when Mandela was released from prison after 27 years, and in 1994,
when he was elected as South Africa's first Black president. In 1998 she
married a businessman, Simon Rakeepile. Her 2004 funeral attracted
international media attention and was attended by Mandela, his second
wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, and his third wife, Graça Machel.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_Mase>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1846:
Polish insurgents in the Free City of Kraków led an uprising
to incite a fight for national independence, which was put down by the
Austrian Empire nine days later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krak%C3%B3w_uprising>
1943:
A fissure opened in a cornfield in the Mexican state of
Michoacán and continued to erupt for nine years, forming the cinder
cone Parícutin (pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Par%C3%ADcutin>
1988:
The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast voted to secede from
Azerbaijan and join Armenia, triggering the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Nagorno-Karabakh_War>
2009:
The Tamil Tigers attempted to crash two aircraft loaded with
C-4 in suicide attacks on Colombo, Sri Lanka, but the planes were shot
down before they reached their targets.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_suicide_air_raid_on_Colombo>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
womannap:
(transitive, informal) To abduct or kidnap a woman.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/womannap>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is a secret but I have pulled the chain out of the wall. I can
see out the little window all I like.
--Richard Matheson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Matheson>