April 23, 1959

1959Unity Dow, Botswanan judge, author, and rights activist^[†]

Unity Dow is a Motswana lawyer, author, human rights activist and Member of Parliament for Kgatleng West since November 2024. She formerly served as a judge on the High Court of Botswana and in various Botswana government ministries. Born in Botswana to a seamstress and a farmer, who insisted on their children obtaining an education, Dow grew up in a traditional rural village before modernisation. She earned a law degree in 1983 from the University of Botswana and Swaziland, though her studies were completed in Swaziland and University of Edinburgh, Scotland, as Botswana had no law school at the time. After her graduation, Dow opened the first all-woman law firm in Botswana and in 1997 became the first woman to be appointed as a judge to the country's High Court.

1959Bak Jungyang, Korean politician (born 1872)^[†]

Pak Chungyang was a Korean bureaucrat and politician in the Japanese colonial government. His art names were Haeak (해악) and Ilso (일소), and his courtesy name was Wongeun (원근). He also had the Japanese names Shigeyō Hōchū (朴忠重陽), Jūyō Boku and Shin Yamamoto . Pak was Governor of the prefecture Kōkai Prefecture from 1921 to 1923 and in 1928. He was also governor of Chūseihoku Prefecture from 1923 to 1925.