Clarissa A Holmes (born 1837)

In 1837, in the year that Clarissa A Holmes was born, on February 25th, in Philadelphia, the Institute for Colored Youth (ICY) - the oldest African-American university in the United States - was founded. It was the first institution for the higher education of black people in the United States. Founded by Quaker Richard Humphreys who gave $10,000 to establish the school, it still exists today - although the location has moved and it has been renamed Cheyney University. Humphreys was concerned about the struggles of free African Americans to make a living.

In 1856, on March 31st, The Treaty of Paris was signed by the Russian Empire and the allied forces of the Ottoman Empire, the British Empire, the French Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The Treaty ended the Crimean War which had begun almost 3 years earlier.

In 1885, on February 16th, the first Dow Jones Industrial Average was published by Charles Dow, who also founded the Wall Street Journal. The index was 62.76. It represented 12 stocks - American Cotton Oil, American Sugar, American Tobacco, Chicago Gas, Distilling & Cattle Feeding, General Electric, Laclede Gas, National Lead, North American, Tennessee Coal and Iron, U.S. Leather pfd. and U.S. Rubber.

In 1891, on March 14th, a lynch mob stormed the Old Parish Prison. The mob lynched 11 of the 19 Italians who were arrested for - but found to be innocent of - the murder of New Orleans Police Chief David Hennessy.

In 1989, on January 20th, George Herbert Walker Bush became the 41st President of the United States. Previously Ronald Regan's Vice President, he ran against Michael Dukakis and won the popular vote by 53.4% to 45.6%.