Crispus Attucks, born to enslaved parents, is credited with leading the Boston Massacre in 1770, which is considered the backbone of the American Revolution. He escaped slavery and became a harpooner on a whaler. He called on Americans to march against imperial authority and led a party of nearly 60 patriots in a march down King Street, which resulted in the Boston Massacre. He was the first to die during the historic event and has been commemorated in many ways, including the Crispus Attucks Monument on Boston Common and the Black Revolutionary War Patriots Silver Dollar coin.
Crispus Attucks (1723 – 1770) went down in history as the first black man to fight for America’s independence from the hands of the British. Little is known about this man, but he is credited with spearheading the fateful event known as The Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770. This event is considered by many to be the backbone of the American Revolution, which ushered in the road to an independent America.
The early years
Attucks was born in 1723 in Framingham, Massachusetts to enslaved parents of Colonel Buckminster; many say his father was brought to America from Africa as a slave, and his mother was a Nantucket Indian also forced into slavery. Crispus reportedly had two siblings, an older sister named Phebe and a younger brother who died of a fever when Attucks was seven. Crispo and his father worked in the vast fields of plantations and farms, while his mother and sister cleaned the Colonel’s house. They received no instruction, as the colonel feared that literacy would eventually lead to rebellion.
Young Crispo abhorred being a slave. He began to shirk his daily duties, daydreaming instead of the day he would escape his life of servitude. The Colonel grew increasingly frustrated with Attucks’ lack of responsibility and eventually sold him to Deacon William Brown, also of Framingham. Crispus was 16 at the time.
Attucks worked diligently for Brown, trading cattle and traveling to seek new business. Ten years later, he escaped to freedom when he took a job as a harpooner on a whaler. Despite a fugitive slave notice in the Boston Gazette, Crispus was never captured. The next twenty years of his life are unknown as never documented.
Rising voltage Ten
The American political scene changed in 1767 when the British Parliament introduced the Townshend Acts. Much to the anger of American businessmen, these acts resulted in taxes on some imported goods such as tea and paper. Tensions escalated even more when 4,000 British troops were deployed in Boston in October 1768. The sight of British Redcoats fueled the anger of the Americans.
In February 1770, a redcoat soldier fired into a mob of jeering Americans and inadvertently killed a young boy. This prompted Crispus’s reappearance in Boston and his first known moment in history. He mounted a mounted platform and spoke to the American crowd about getting their freedom from the British.
On March 5, 1770, Crispo called on Americans to march against imperial authority. His action was allegedly prompted by an event that had occurred that day in which an argument between a redcoat and a barber’s apprentice flared up after the soldier refused to pay for services rendered. This eventually resulted in the soldier striking the apprentice with the butt of his musket. A mob of angry witnesses gathered, and Crispus led them and others in what later became known as the Boston Massacre.
The Boston Massacre
Attucks led a party of nearly 60 patriots in a march down King Street. They came face to face with Captain Thomas Preston and his eight troops of the 29th Regiment. Muskets and bayonets were drawn as Crispo and his loyal followers attacked the soldiers with snowballs and sticks. When one soldier was shot down, someone yelled, “Fire!” and shots immediately rang out, killing Attucks and four other Patriots. This event soon became known as the Boston Massacre and Crispus, having been the first to die during the historic event, is now known to lead him.
Honoring Crispus
The American public has commemorated Crispus Attucks in many ways. Historians say that several days after his death, about 10,000 people attended a funeral procession to the cemetery of the old granary where Crispo was buried. Paul Revere (1734–1818) made the famous print known as ‘The Boston Massacre’ just 21 days after Crispus’s death; while the etching’s main purpose was to create propaganda for the American Revolution, it also serves as an informal memorial to Crispus as it includes the words “The Bloody Massacre” at the top of the etching. Poet John Boyle O’Reilly (1844-1890) described Crispus as “the first to dare and the first to die” in one of his poems.
In 1888, the Crispus Attucks Monument was built on Boston Common. The Black Patriots Coin Act was enacted in 1996, paving the way for the production of the Black Revolutionary War Patriots Silver Dollar coin in 1998, honoring all African American patriots who played a part in the founding of America , including Attucks.
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