Portal:Massachusetts/Selected biography/5

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

Little is known for certain about Attucks other than that he was killed in the Boston Massacre. Fragmentary evidence suggests that he may have been a "mulatto" with African and Native American ancestry. In the early 1800s, 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.