Crispus Attucks
A Hero of the Boston Massacre
Background
Crispus Attucks was born in 1723 in Framingham, Massachusetts. He was a slave living with his master William Brown. He ran away, and then became a merchant seaman and dockworker of Wamponoag and African descent. He worked as a merchant seaman for 20 years.
The first to risk his life in the Boston Massacre.
March 12, 1770 Gazette that was published.
Crispus was the first to be shot. He is the first guy laying on the ground.
March 5th, 1770: Boston Massacre
March 5th was the day Crispus Attucks fought for his rights and freedom. He was the first casualty in the Boston Massacre and was the first to fall. Attucks was in the front of the line in front of 50 patriots. There was an order to fire; the first shot was fired. Crispus was the first to fall in this time. He had two bullets to the chest.
After the Tragedy
After the event, Paul Revere published a poem and a drawing of the incident in the Boston Gazette on March 12th, 1770. They leave out Crispus in the Gazette. He represents the 5,000 African American soldiers who fought for an independent America. His sacrifice gets put with the African American hero's with Frederick Douglas, Sojourner Truth, and Harriet Tubman.
Works Cited
"Crispus Attucks Biography." Biography.com. N.p., 2014. Web. 22 Sept. 2014.
"Crispus Attucks." Boston Massacre Historical Society. N.p., 2008. Web. 22 Sept. 2014.
"The First Hero of the American Revolution." Crispus Attucks Museum. N.p., 2014. Web. 22 Sept. 2014.
Pictures:
Boston Massacre Obituary. 1995. Archiving Early America, n.p.
Crispus Attucks at the Boston Massacre. 2004. Documenting the American South, North Carolina.
Crispus Attucks. 2014. Summer of Monuments, n.p.