1961 — Sierra Leone Independence Day

On April 27, 1961, Sierra Leone's new flag rose over Freetown as one of Britain's oldest West African colonies became independent. Dr. Milton Margai, the gentle physician-turned-statesman, became the new nation's first prime minister. Crowds in the capital watched the flag of a sovereign Sierra Leone fly for the first time, at the head of a government led by one of its own sons.

For more than a century, Freetown had already been a beacon of freedom, home to thousands of Africans liberated from slave ships. April 27 is celebrated every year as Independence Day, the day the Lion Mountains roared free.