William Gorbutt (born 1801)

In 1801, in the year that William Gorbutt was born, on January 1st, after a brief period of independence, Ireland was merged with Great Britain, creating The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

In 1837, 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 1890, on January 2nd, Alice Sanger became the first female staffer to work in the White House. She was hired as a stenographer and, as such, took dictation.

In 1934, on July 22nd, gangster John Dillinger was killed in Chicago. His gang had robbed banks and police stations, among other charges, and he was being hunted by J. Edgar Hoover, head of the FBI - although many in the public saw him as a "Robin Hood". A madam from a brothel in which he was hiding became an informer for the FBI and, after a shootout with FBI agents, Dillinger was shot and died.

In 1954, on May 17th, the Supreme Court released a decision on Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. The ruling stated that state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students was unconstitutional thus paving the way for integration in schools.