1983 — Sankara Arrested

On May 17, 1983, soldiers arrested Prime Minister Thomas Sankara at his residence in Ouagadougou, Upper Volta. The arrest was meant to silence a popular and outspoken leader. Instead, thousands flooded the streets demanding his freedom, and younger army officers mutinied in his defense, refusing to accept the order that had taken him.

The regime blinked, and Sankara walked free with his legend made. Weeks later his comrade Blaise Compaoré marched on the capital, and Sankara seized power, renaming the country Burkina Faso, Land of Upright Men. An arrest meant to end a career had instead announced a revolution, carried forward on the voices in the street.