Crispus Attucks

This article is about the person. For other uses, see Crispus Attucks (disambiguation).

An artist's conception of Crispus Attucks

Crispus Attucks (c. 1723 – March 5, 1770) was one of five people killed in the Boston Massacre in Boston, Massachusetts.He has been frequently named as the first martyr of the American Revolution and is the only Boston Massacre victim whose name is commonly remembered. He is regarded as an important and inspirational figure in American history.

Little is known for certain about Attucks beyond his involvement in the massacre. Fragmentary evidence suggests that he may have been of African American and Native American ancestry. In the early 19th century, as the Abolitionist movement gained momentum in Boston, Attucks was lauded as an example of a black American who played a heroic role in the history of the United States. Because Crispus Attucks may also have had Wampanoag Indian ancestors, his story also holds special significance for many Native Americans

Possible ethnicity and ancestry

Very few facts are known about Crispus Attucks prior to his involvement with the Boston Massacre. Because slavery and racial discrimination were conditions of life in the 18th century, few detailed accounts of black Americans from that era survive. The name "Crispus" is mentioned in some records from the period, although without a surname, it is impossible to determine if they refer to Attucks. For example, an October 2, 1750, advertisement placed in the Boston Gazette read:

Ran away from his Master William Brown of Framingham on the 30th of Sept. last a mulatto Fellow, about 27 years of age, named Crispus, 6 Feet and 2 inches high, short curl'd Hair, his Knees near together than common; and had on a light colour'd Beaverskin Coat, plain new buckskin breeches, blue yarn stockings and a checked woolen shirt. Whoever shall take up said runaway and convey him to his aforesaid master shall have 10 pounds old tenor reward, and all necessary charges paid. And all masters of vessels and others are hereby cautioned against concealing or carrying off said servant on penalty of law :(.

This passage is often associated with Crispus Attucks of the Boston Massacre, although the association is entirely speculative.

An American Native named John Attucks was executed for treason in 1676 during King Philip's War. In the 1800s, the surname “Attucks” was used by some Praying Indians around Natick and Framingham. This surname may be an Anglicisation of the Wôpanââk word ahtuk meaning deer.

Native people and black people frequently had children together in Colonial times as evidenced by accounts from early periods and by the prevalence today of African phenotypes among Indian tribal groups in New England and other long-established multiracial groups in the Eastern United States. This leads to speculation that Attucks had both African and Native American ancestry.

Crispus had a sister named Phoebe.

Boston Massacre

On 1768, British soldiers were sent to Boston to help control growing colonial unrest, but this only increased tensions with those colonists who opposed the presence of troops. A little after 12:00 P.M. on Monday, March 5, 1770, a crowd of colonists gathered and confronted a group of soldiers about an incident earlier that day in which a soldier struck a boy who confronted him over non-payment of a barber bill.

This 19th century lithograph is a variation of the famous engraving of the Boston Massacre by Paul Revere. Produced soon before the American Civil War, this image emphasizes Crispus Attucks, who had become a symbol for Abolitionists. (John Bufford after William L. Champey, ca. 1856)

As anger escalated, a church bell was rung (as it would in case of fire or other emergency), drawing people out of their homes. The British soldiers of the 29th Regiment of Foot were called to duty in response. Townspeople began hurling snowballs and debris at the soldiers. A group of men led by Attucks approached the vicinity of the government building (now known as the Old State House) with clubs in hand.

Violence soon erupted and a soldier was struck with a thrown piece of wood. Some accounts named Attucks as the person responsible. Other witnesses stated that Attucks was "leaning upon a stick" when the soldiers opened fire.

Three Americans were killed and two were mortally wounded. Court documents state that Attucks was the first one killed and that he took two bullets in the chest. Attucks’ body was carried to Faneuil Hall where it lay in state until Thursday, March 8 when he and the other victims were buried together.

Based on the premise of self-defense, John Adams successfully defended the British soldiers against a charge of murder. Two of the soldiers were found guilty of manslaughter. As soldiers of the King of England, they were given the choice of hanging or being branded on their thumb. They both chose to be branded. In his arguments, Adams called the crowd "a motley rabble of saucy boys, negros and molattoes, Irish teagues and outlandish jack tarrs".

Samuel Adams, a cousin of John Adams who held civil disobedience in higher regard, named the event the Boston Massacre two years later and helped assure that it would not be forgotten. Boston artist Henry Pelham (half-brother of the celebrated portrait painter John Singleton Copley) created an image of the event. Paul Revere made a copy of the image from which prints were made and distributed. Some copies of the print show a dark-skinned man with chest wounds presumably representing Crispus Attucks. Other copies of the print show no difference in the skin tone of the victims.

The five who were killed were buried as heroes in the Granary Burying Ground, which contains the graves of John Hancock and other notable figures. While custom of the period discouraged the burial of black people and white people together, such a practice was not unknown. Prince Hall, for example, was interred in Copp's Hill Burying Ground in the North End of Boston 35 years later.

Folklore

The above-mentioned clues and other circumstantial evidence of the period have given rise to speculation which has, over many decades, become much-repeated folk-history.

In popular versions of his narrative, Attucks was born to an Africa-born black slave father named Prince Yonger and a Native American mother named Nancy Attucks who was from either the Natick-Framingham area of Middlesex County just west of Boston or from the island of Nantucket south of Cape Cod. He grew up in the household of Colonel Buckminster, his father’s master, until sold to Deacon William Brown of Framingham. Unhappy with his situation, he escaped and became a ropemaker, a manual laborer and/or a whaler. His quarrel with the British soldiers on March 5, 1770 was righteous indignation regarding the effect of the Townshend Acts on the local economy as well as the incidents that had taken place earlier that day.

Legacy

Crispus Attucks' grave in the Granary Burying Ground

Attucks has often been praised in writing meant to inspire Americans to work toward the ideals of freedom and racial equality. In 1858, Boston-area Abolitionists established "Crispus Attucks Day." In 1886, the spots where Crispus Attucks and Samuel Gray fell were marked by circles on the pavement. Within each circle there was a hub with spokes leading out to form a wheel.

Two years later a monument honoring him was erected on Boston Common. It is a large structure, over 25 feet high and a little over 10 feet wide. The bas-relief or raised portion on the face of the main part of the monument portrays the Boston Massacre with Attucks lying in the foreground. Under the scene is the date, March 5, 1770. Above the bas-relief stands a female figure, "Free America." With her left land she clasps a flag about to be unfurled, and in her right hand she holds the broken chain of oppression. Beneath her right foot she crushes the royal crown of England, which lies torn and twisted on the ground. At the left of the figure, clinging to the edge of the base, is an eagle. Thirteen stars are cut into one of the faces of the monument. Beneath these stars in raised letters are the names of Crispus Attucks, Samuel Gray, James Caldwell, Samuel Maverick, and Patrick Carr.

The poet John Boyle O'Reilly wrote the following poem for the unveiling of the monument:

And to honor Crispus Attucks who was the leader and voice that day: The first to defy, and the first to die, with Maverick, Carr, and Gray. Call it riot or revolution, or mob or crowd as you may, such deaths have been seeds of nations, such lives shall be honored for aye...

Martin Luther King, Jr., referred to Crispus Attucks in the introduction of Why We Can't Wait (1964) as an example of a man whose contribution to history, though much-overlooked by standard histories, could be revered as a source of moral courage.

One author wrote this appraisal of Attucks’s significance:

He is one of the most important figures in African-American history, not for what he did for his own race but for what he did for all oppressed people everywhere. He is a reminder that the African-American heritage is not only African but American and it is a heritage that begins with the beginning of America.

In 1888, leaders of the Massachusetts Historical Society and the New England Historic Genealogical Society opposed the creation of the Crispus Attucks memorial on Boston Common. Today, both organizations use Crispus Attucks’s name to foster interest in black history and genealogy.

In 1998, the United States Treasury released "The Black Revolutionary War Patriots Silver Dollar" featuring Attucks' image on the obverse side. The reverse side of the commemorative coin shows a family of African-American patriots. Funds from sales of the coin were intended for a proposed Black Revolutionary War Patriots Memorial in Washington, DC.

In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Crispus Attucks on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.

Places named for Attucks include the Crispus Attucks High School in Indianapolis, Indiana, the Attucks Middle School in Hollywood, Florida, the Crispus Attucks Elementary School in Kansas City, Missouri, the Attucks Theatre in Norfolk, Virginia, The Crispus Attucks Association in York, Pennsylvania, and the Crispus Attucks Center in Dorchester, Massachusetts.

External links

• Africans in America biography
• Africans in America at PBS.org
• Crispus Attucks at AfricaWithin.com
• Crispus Attucks Association, Inc.
• The Murder of Crispus Attucks Library of Congress exhibit, including trial documents.
• Trial Documents at Framingham.com