The Calendar of Literary Facts contains more than 6,500 events in literary history.

The Battles of Lexington and Concord occur, commencing hostilities in the American War for Independence

Explore: The significance of the Battles of Lexington and Concord to U.S. history

George Gordon, Lord Byron dies

Explore: She Walks in Beauty, Lord Byron, What makes Lord Byron a Romantic poet?

José Echegaray is born

Richard Hughes is born

Explore: A High Wind in Jamaica, Richard Hughes

Etheridge Knight is born

Explore: Etheridge Knight, Hard Rock Returns to Prison from the Hospital for the Criminal Insane, The Idea of Ancestry

Sharon Pollock is born

Explore: Blood Relations, Sharon Pollock, Analyze the title character in Sharon Pollock's Walsh.

Jackie Robinson becomes the first black to play major league baseball, joining the Brooklyn Dodgers

Explore: Jackie Robinson's influence on sports and the civil rights movement

Neil Bissoondath is born

Explore: Neil Bissoondath

Daphne Du Maurier dies

Explore: Rebecca, Don't Look Now, The Birds, Daphne du Maurier, What historical events influenced Daphne Du Maurier's writing of Rebecca?

Octavio Paz dies

Explore: Fable, My Life with the Wave, Octavio Paz, The Labyrinth of Solitude, What literary devices in Paz's "As One Listens to the Rain" and "Summit and Gravity" support each poem's main theme?