On this date in history:

In 1854, Ashmun Institute in Pennsylvania, the first college founded solely for Black American students, was officially chartered. The private school was renamed Lincoln University in 1866 and became public in 1972.

In 1885, women were admitted for the first time to examinations at England's Oxford University.

In 1913, Gideon Sundbach of Hoboken, N.J., was issued a patent for the zipper.

In 1945, troops of the U.S. Seventh Army liberated 32,000 prisoners at the Nazi regime's Dachau concentration camp near Munich, Germany.

In 1970, the South Vietnamese, with help from the United States, began a major ground operation into Cambodia to destroy Communist North Vietnamese sanctuaries.

In 1975, helicopters evacuated hundreds of American civilians and military support personnel, and thousands of South Vietnamese from Saigon -- the day before the North Vietnamese overran the city.

In 1985, four gunmen escaped with nearly $8 million in cash stolen from the Wells Fargo armored car company in New York.

In 1986, an arson fire destroyed more than 1 million books in the Los Angeles Central Library.

In 1991, a typhoon struck Bangladesh, killing some 135,000 people.

In 1992, rioting erupted in Los Angeles after a jury in Simi Valley, Calif., acquitted four White police officers of nearly all charges in the videotaped beating of Black motorist Rodney King. Fifty-three people died in three days of protest and violence.

In 2004, the final Oldsmobile was manufactured. The brand had been in existence for 107 years.

In 2010, U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus announced a policy change that allows women to serve on submarines.

In 2011, British Prince William, grandson of Queen Elizabeth II, and college sweetheart Kate Middleton, the new duchess of Cambridge, exchanged wedding rings and vows in a regal ceremony at Westminster Abbey before an estimated worldwide audience of 2 billion people.

In 2013, Jason Collins of the NBA became the first active player in a North American major sports league to announce he is gay.

In 2023, heavy fighting between warring factions of Sudan's army broke out despite an extension of a cease-fire between the two sides. The war between the Sudanese Armed Forces under Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces under Janjaweed leader Hemedti broke out April 15, 2023, and was ongoing through 2024.

Copyright 2024 by United Press International