Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was born on 29 October 1938 in Monrovia. A Liberian economist and politician, Johnson Sirleaf studied at Harvard, worked at the World Bank and the United Nations, and served as minister of finance in the 1970s. She spent periods in prison and in exile under military rule and during the civil war. In 2005 she won the election to become president of Liberia, taking office in January 2006 as the first elected female head of state in Africa. She led the country through its recovery from fourteen years of conflict and through the Ebola epidemic of 2014. In 2011 she shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkol Karman, and in 2018 she handed over power peacefully after two terms.
Before and after
- 30 July 1938Discovery of Carme
- 9 August 1938Birth of Leonid Kuchma
- 30 September 1938Munich agreement
- 9 October 1938Birth of Heinz Fischer
- 29 October 1938Birth of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
- November 1938Kristallnacht
- 10 November 1938Death of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
- 29 December 1938Birth of Jon Voight
- 1939Porajmos
More in Wars, politics & history
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- 16 May 1916Sykes–Picot Agreement
- from February 1919 to March 1921Polish–Soviet War
- 24 July 1923Treaty of Lausanne
- from 7 December 1941 to 2 September 1945Pacific War
- from 6 June 1944 to 29 August 1944Normandy landings
The era
This moment belongs to the Modern era (1914 CE to 1945 CE), world wars and a changing world. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.