Crispus Attucks
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Crispus Attucks (circa 1723 - March 5, 1770), was one of five people killed in the Boston Massacre. He has been frequently named as the first martyr for the cause of American Independence and is the only person killed in the event whose name is commonly remembered.
Described as mulatto in contemporary accounts, Attucks was multiracial and possessed African ancestry mixed with Native American and/or white ancestry.
In the early 1800s, as the Abolitionist movement gained momentum in Boston, Attucks was lauded as an example of a black person who played a heroic role in the history of the United States. In 1858, Boston-area Abolitionists established "Crispus Attucks Day." In 1888, a monument honoring him was erected on Boston Common.
Since slavery and segregation were conditions of life in the 1700s, few stories of black American heroes from that era survive to the present. Therefore, though little is known about Crispus Attucks’ personal life or motives, he remains an important and inspirational figure in African American history.
As Crispus Attucks may have possessed Wampanoag Indian ancestry as well, his story also holds special significance for many Native Americans.
Controversy remains over whether Attucks was a revolutionary leader or simply a rabble rouser; it is possible he was both.
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[edit] What is known
What is known for certain about Crispus Attucks is that on the evening of March 5, 1770, a crowd of colonists gathered and confronted a group of British soldiers about an incident earlier that day in which a soldier struck a boy who confronted him over non-payment of a barber bill.
As anger escalated, a churchbell was struck (as it would in case of fire or other emergency), drawing people out of their homes. The British soldiers of the Twenty-ninth Regiment 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. Others 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 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. In his arguments, Adams called the crowd:
"a motley rabble of saucy boys, negros and molattoes, Irish teagues and outlandish jack tarrs"[1]
Although Adams was considered a progressive thinker in his day, his negative characterization of the crowd based upon the ethnicity of some of its members seems odious and bigoted by modern standards.
Samuel Adams, a cousin of John Adams who held civil disobedience in higher regard, gave the event the name of 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 man with two chest wounds and a somewhat darker face who is assumed to be 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. Law and custom of the period prohibited the burial of black people and white people together, which suggests that Attucks was considered mulatto rather than black.
[edit] Clues that may be relevant
As mentioned above, few facts are known about Crispus Attucks prior to his involvement with ths Boston Massacre. The name “Crispus” is mentioned in some records from the period that might be relevant, but this was a fairly common name and to connect these records to Crispus Attucks of the Boston Massacre is speculation.
An October 2, 1750, advertisement placed in the Boston Gazette read: "ran away from his Master William Brown on the 30th of Sept. last, a mulatto Fellow, about 27 years of age, named Crispus, 6 Feet two inches high, short curl'd Hair, his Knees near together than common: had on a light colour'd Bearskin Coat." Master William Brown offered a reward of £10 for his return. Given the lack of evidence to the contrary, this passage is often associated with Crispus Attucks of the Boston Massacre. [2]
An Indian named John Attucks was executed for treason in 1676 during King Philip's War. In the 1700s, the surname “Attucks” was used by some Praying Indians around Natick and Framingham. Indians and black people frequently interbred in Colonial times as evidenced by accounts from the period 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 was a mixture of black and Amerindian.[3]
[edit] His legend
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.
[edit] His legacy
Besides the recognition given to Attucks by the abolitionists described above, Attucks has often been praised in writing meant to inspire Americans to work towards the ideals of freedom and racial equality.
In the poetry of John Boyle O'Reilly he was described as "leader and voice that day; The first to defy, and the first to die...riot or revolution, or mob or crowd as you may, such deaths have been seeds of nations.
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 stirring testimony to Attucks’ 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."[4]
[edit] Trivia
- John Adams went on to become the 2nd President of the United States. His son, John Quincy Adams, who served as the 6th President of the United States, was an abolitionist, an opponent of slaveholders and the lawyer who successfully defended the black Africans claimed as property by owners of the Spanish schooner successfully Amistad.
- In 1888, leaders of both 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’ name to foster interest in black history and genealogy.
[edit] References
- ^ The Murder of Crispus Attucks
- ^ Africa Within
- ^ Africa Within
- ^ Neyland, James, Crispus Attucks, Patriot, Holloway House Pub Co., 1995
- Africans in America biography
- The Murder of Crispus Attucks Library of Congress exhibit, including trial documents.
- Trial Documents at Framingham.com
- Crispus Attucks at AfricaWithin.com
- Crispus Attucks Association, Inc.
- Africans in America at PBS.org
