Unfortunately not a lot is known about Crispus Attucks at this time. However, he is an important figure in American history and someone that is important for us to acknowledge and learn about.
Podcast Transcription:
Hello class! Today we are going to continue our conversation about the Boston Massacre and talk about one of the men who died during this event. His name is Crispus Attucks, an African American and Native American descendant, often considered the first victim of the massacre.
We often do not see black people or people of color depicted in the American Revolution, unless they are depicted as slaves. That is why it is particularly important for us to acknowledge Black people in our American history and learn about them.
Crispus Attucks was born in 1723 in Massachusetts to a Native American mother from the Wampanoag tribe and an enslaved father. Attucks himself was a slave but ran away at the age of 27. Though the man who enslaved him, William Browne, offered a reward for his capture, Attucks successfully remained free, likely using an alias.
One of the few professions that non-white people were allowed to partake in at the time was sailing. Attucks embraced this profession as well as becoming a rope-maker. However, because of the influx of soldiers from Great Britain, who often took part time jobs as sailors, Attucks was frustrated with the competition for work. During the time, Britain was also forcing many sailors and colonists into service on their ships, a tactic called impressment. Impressment was another major reason for the American Revolution, which we will cover further in class.
As well as being mixed race, Attucks was also large for the time, standing at about 6 feet 2 inches. This was used by John Adams, the lawyer of the Boston Massacre soldiers, as a defense for the fact that the soldiers killed him. At the trial he calls Attucks “a stout mulatto fellow, whose very looks was enough to terrify any person”.
Not taking Attucks’ looks into consideration, Attucks was most likely startling to the British soldiers for a different reason. He was a good fighter and was brave enough to be in the front of the crowd taunting the soldiers. He grabbed at their guns multiple times and hit them with sticks before eventually being shot twice in the chest. That day, March 5th, 1770 Crispus Attucks died, often considered the first casualty of the American Revolution.
After his death, more than half of the population of Boston joined in his and the other victim’s funeral procession. As a black man, especially one who escaped slavery, this was absolutely unheard of for the time.
In the 1840s, Attucks eventually became a symbol of black patriotism for activists in the African American community and Martin Luther King Jr. wrote about him as well. Many schools, parks, and buildings have been named after Attucks and he briefly appeared on a commemorative silver dollar released by the United States Treasury.
I wanted to cover the history of Crispus Attucks in this class for a few different reasons. He is a symbol and representative of black patriotism within our country. Further, though he was the first to die for the American Revolution, he is often forgotten in history curriculum. This is important to acknowledge as we move forward in our learning. Who are we learning about and who is ignored? It will be important as we move through this class to think critically about the history that we are learning, question it, and further investigate the truth.
For sources and more information, please see the description or website. For class tomorrow, please be prepared to discuss why you believe Crispus Attucks is important within our history.
Sources and Information:
https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=uVZHAQAAMAAJ&hl=en&pg=GBS.PP1 (The Trial of the British Soldiers, of the 29th Regiment of Foot, For the Murder of Crispus Attucks, Samuel Gray, Samuel Maverick, James Caldwell, and Patrick Carr, on Monday Evening, March 5, 1770, Before the Honorable Benjamin Lynde, John Cushing, Peter Oliver, and Edmund Trowbridge, Esquires, Justices of the Superior Court of Judicature, Court of Assize, and General Gaol Delivery, Held at Boston, by Adjournment, November 27, 1770)