Crispus Attucks has been immortalized as the first casualty of the American Revolutionary War and the first African American hero. (PBS and Crispus Attucks Museum)
On March 5, 1770, toward evening that day, a crowd of colonists gathered and began taunting a small group of British soldiers. Tension mounted rapidly, and, when one of the soldiers was struck, the others fired their muskets, killing three of the Americans instantly and mortally wounding two others.
Attucks was the first to fall, thus becoming one of the first men to lose his life in the cause of American independence.
His body was carried to Faneuil Hall, where it lay in state until March 8, when all five victims were buried in a common grave. (The five included Crispus Attucks, James Caldwell, and Samuel Gray who died at the scene; Samuel Maverick mortally wounded, dying the next day and Patrick Carr dying two weeks later.) Attucks was the only victim of the Boston Massacre whose name was widely remembered.
Attucks has been celebrated not just as one of the first martyrs in what became the fight for American independence, but also as a symbol of African Americans’ struggle for freedom and equality. The life of Crispus Attucks is far less documented than his death.
Early coverage and investigations into the details of the Massacre refer to Attucks as Michael Johnson, a name he may have used as an intentional alias. After uncovering his actual name, newspapers published a few details about his life, notably his profession, a sailor; his birth in Framingham, Massachusetts; his current residence of New Providence in the Bahamas; and his ship’s destination of North Carolina.
His last name, ‘Attucks,’ is of Indigenous origin, deriving from the Natick word for ‘deer.’
His first name reflects the trend in the colonial era of enslavers forcing an Ancient Roman name onto their enslaved people. Attucks shares the name ‘Crispus’ with the son of Emperor Constantine.
Contemporary sources at the time of his death do not identify Attucks as enslaved or formerly enslaved. How and when he gained his freedom is unknown, but it is possible that Attucks used the name Michael Johnson to protect himself from a return to slavery.
Attucks was born around 1723 somewhere near Framingham, Mass., perhaps Natick, the Praying Indian town. His mother belonged to the Wampanoag tribe, and his father was an African-American slave. His mother may have been descended from John Attucks, hanged for treason because he sided with his people during King Philip’s War.
Crispus Attucks was enslaved for 27 years, probably by a man named William Brown of Framingham. In 1750 he won his freedom by running away to sea. Or he may have bought his freedom.
In any case, he often worked on whalers, and in between voyages he worked as a ropemaker. Seafaring was one of the few occupations free men of color could enter. Twenty-five years after the American Revolution, one-fifth of the 100,000 men employed as sailors were African-American.
Click the following link to a general summary about Crispus Attucks:
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