Calendar of Literary Facts
1854
- Admiral Matthew Perry convinces the Japanese government to open its borders to international trade
- The U.S. Congress passes the Kansas-Nebraska Act
- John Rollin Ridge publishes The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta
- Henry David Thoreau publishes Walden; or, Life in the Woods
- Frances Ellen Watkins Harper publishes Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects
- J. G. Frazer is born (January 1)
- Oscar Wilde is born (October 16)
- Arthur Rimbaud is born (October 20)