Timeline December 1784

Events in December 1784 3

• 1709 – 1784 Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) Died 13 December 1784, aged 75 Samuel Johnson, author of A Dictionary of the English Language, died in London. His dictionary, compiled largely single-handedly over nine years, remained the standard reference for English until the Oxford English Dictionary. He was also a celebrated essayist, poet, and critic, memorialized in James Boswell's biography.
• 1753 – 1784 Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784) Died 5 December 1784, aged about 31 Phillis Wheatley, the first published African American poet, died in poverty in Boston. Brought to America as an enslaved child, she gained international recognition in 1773 with Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral. Her work was cited by abolitionists as evidence of the intellectual capacities of enslaved people.
• 1784 Immanuel Kant Publishes An Answer to the Question What Is Enlightenment Essay defines Enlightenment as humanity's emergence from self-imposed immaturity Immanuel Kant published his essay answering the question posed by a Berlin periodical, defining Enlightenment as the courage to use one's own understanding without guidance from another. The short text became one of the most frequently cited statements of Enlightenment philosophy. It argued for freedom of public reason even under political authority.