Crispus Attucks ( – March 5, 1770) was an American whaler, sailor, and
stevedore
A dockworker (also called a longshoreman, stevedore, docker, wharfman, lumper or wharfie) is a waterfront manual laborer who loads and unloads ships.
As a result of the intermodal shipping container revolution, the required number of dockwork ...
of
African and
Native American descent who is traditionally regarded as the first person killed in the
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre, known in Great Britain as the Incident on King Street, was a confrontation, on March 5, 1770, during the American Revolution in Boston in what was then the colonial-era Province of Massachusetts Bay.
In the confrontati ...
, and as a result the first American
killed in the
American Revolution
The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...
.
Although he is widely remembered as the first American casualty of the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
, 11-year-old
Christopher Seider was shot a few weeks earlier by customs officer Ebenezer Richardson on February 22, 1770.
Historians disagree on whether Attucks was a free man or an escaped slave, but most agree that he was of
Wampanoag
The Wampanoag, also rendered Wôpanâak, are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people of the Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Northeastern Woodlands currently based in southeastern Massachusetts and forme ...
and African descent.
Two major sources of eyewitness testimony about the Boston Massacre published in 1770 did not refer to him as black or as a Negro; it appears he was instead viewed by Bostonians as being of mixed ethnicity. According to a contemporaneous account in the ''
Pennsylvania Gazette
''The Pennsylvania Gazette'' was one of the United States' most prominent newspapers from 1728 until 1800. In the years leading up to the American Revolution, the newspaper served as a voice for colonial opposition to Kingdom of Great Britain, ...
'', he was a "
Mulattoe man, named Crispus Attucks, who was born in
Framingham, but lately belonged to New Providence, and was here in order to go for
North Carolina
North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...
."
Attucks became an icon of the
anti-slavery movement in the mid-19th century. Supporters of the abolition movement lauded him for playing a heroic role in the history of the United States.
Early life and ethnic origins
Attucks was born in
Framingham, Massachusetts
Framingham () is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. Incorporated in 1700, it is located in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County and the MetroWest subregion of the Greater Boston ...
. Town histories of Framingham written in 1847 and 1887 describe him as a slave of Deacon William Brown, though it is unclear whether Brown was his original owner. In 1750, Brown advertised for the return of a runaway slave named Crispas. In the advertisement, Brown describes Attucks and his clothing when he was last seen. He also said that a reward of 10 pounds would be given to whoever found and returned Attucks to him. Attucks's status at the time of the massacre as a free person or a
runaway slave has been a matter of debate for historians.
Attucks became a sailor and whaler, and he spent much of his life at sea or working around the docks along the Atlantic seaboard. In an 1874 article in ''The American Historical Record'', Jebe B. Fisher recounts a passage in the memoirs of
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a seminal American protest, political and Mercantilism, mercantile protest on December 16, 1773, during the American Revolution. Initiated by Sons of Liberty activists in Boston in Province of Massachusetts Bay, colo ...
participant
George R.T. Hewes, which stated that at the time of the massacre, Attucks "was a Nantucket Indian, belonging onboard a whale ship of Mr. Folgers, then in the harbor, and he remembers a distinct war whoop which he yelled... the mob whistling, screaming, and rending like an Indian yell." Many historians believe Attucks went by the alias Michael Johnson in order to avoid being caught after his escape from slavery. He may only have been temporarily in Boston in early 1770, having recently returned from a voyage to the
Bahamas
The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...
. He was due to leave shortly afterward on a ship for
North Carolina
North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...
.
Though he is commonly described as an
African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
in popular culture, two major sources of eyewitness testimony about the Massacre, both published in 1770, did not refer to Attucks as "black" or as a "Negro," but rather as a mulatto and an
Indian. In an account from Philadelphia's ''
Pennsylvania Gazette
''The Pennsylvania Gazette'' was one of the United States' most prominent newspapers from 1728 until 1800. In the years leading up to the American Revolution, the newspaper served as a voice for colonial opposition to Kingdom of Great Britain, ...
'', a man who may have been Attucks was referred to as a "
Mulattoe man, named Crispas, who was born in Framingham, but lately belonged to New-Providence, and was here in order to go for North Carolina."
However, during Attucks's time, mulatto was often used to describe skin tone rather than ethnicity, and sometimes referred to full-blooded Native Americans. In ''Potter's American Monthly'', the interchangeability of the two terms is demonstrated by court transcripts from the Attucks trial:
Question: Did you see a mulatto among the persons who surrounded the soldiers?
Answer: I did not observe...
Question: Did they seem to be sailors or townsmen?
Answer: They were dressed some of them in the habits of sailors.
Question: Did you know the Indian who was killed?
Answer: No.
Question: Did you see any of them press on the soldiers with a cordwood stick?
Answer: No.
Historians differ in opinion on Attucks's heritage: some assert his family had intermarried with African slaves, while others maintain he had no African heritage. It is widely acknowledged that Attucks had considerable Native American heritage.
Biographer Mitch Kachun, as well as multiple 19th century Framingham town histories, have drawn a connection between Attucks and John Attuck of
Framingham, a
Narragansett man who was hanged in Framingham in 1676 during
King Philip's War
King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–1678 between a group of indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodland ...
. The word for "deer" in the Narragansett language is "Attuck." Kachun also noted a possible connection to a probable
Natick woman and possible Attucks mother or relative named Nanny Peterattucks, who is described as a 'negro woman' in the 1747 estate inventory of Framingham slaveholder Joseph Buckminster and, along with Jacob Peterattucks, as 'probable descendant of John Attuck, the Indian' in an 1847 history of Framingham. Other sources refer to their surname as Peter Attucks. In a 1747 history of the Hoosac Valley, an African
colonial militiaman named Moses Peter Attucks, living in nearby
Leicester
Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...
, is described as a 'negro slave of John White; elsewhere he is listed as Moses Attucks. Jacob Peterattucks and Nanny Peterattucks are recorded as slaves with Joseph Buckminster in 1730, and in 1740 Jacob with Thomas Buckminster, who was appointed by Framingham in 1739 to lead a commission for the preservation of deer in the area. Historian
William C. Nell reported an 1860 letter from a Natick resident, also printed in an 1860 edition of
''The Liberator'' newspaper that read,
Several persons are now living in Natick who remember the Attucks family, viz., Cris, who was killed March 5th; Sam, whose name was abbreviated into Sam Attucks, or Smattox; Sal, also known as Slattox; and Peter, called Pea Tattox ..my mother, still living, aged 89, remembers Sal in particular, who used to be called the gourd-shell squaw, from the fact that she used to carry her rum in a gourd shell ..the whole family are said to be the children of Jacob Peter Attucks... it has been conjectured that they are of Indian blood, but all who knew the descendants describe them as negroes.
The letter continues, "his sister
alused to say that if they had not killed Cris, Cris would have killed them."
Prince Yonger has been posited as the father of Attucks. However, according to Framingham town histories, Yonger did not arrive in Massachusetts until 1725, after Attucks was born, and did not marry Nanny Peterattucks until 1737, after which point they had children, who are noted in multiple town histories but among whom Crispus is not mentioned: "a son, who died young, and Phebe, who never married." It is possible Yonger became Attucks' stepfather in 1737, though it is unclear whether Attucks had permanently left his mother's home by that point. Neither Phebe nor the son are recorded with the Attucks or Peterattucks surname.
Boston Massacre
In the fall of 1768,
British troops were sent to Boston to maintain order amid growing
colonial unrest which had led to a spate of attacks on local officials following the introduction of the
Stamp Act and the subsequent
Townshend Acts. Radical
Whigs had coordinated
waterfront mobs against the authorities. The presence of troops, instead of reducing tensions, served to further inflame them.
After dusk on March 5, 1770, a wigmaker's apprentice mistakenly accused a British officer of not paying a bill. The officer ignored his insults but a sentry intervened after the boy began physically assaulting the officer. Both townspeople and nine soldiers of the
29th Regiment of Foot gathered. The colonists threw snowballs and debris at the soldiers. A group of men including Attucks approached the
Old State House armed with
clubs and sticks. A soldier was struck with a piece of wood, an act some witnesses claimed was done by Attucks. Other witnesses stated that Attucks was "leaning upon a stick" when the soldiers opened fire.
Five colonists were killed and six were wounded. Attucks took two ricocheted bullets in the chest and was believed to be the first to die. County coroners Robert Pierpoint and Thomas Crafts Jr. conducted an autopsy on Attucks. He was "felled by two bullets to his chest, one of them 'goring the right lobe of the lungs and a great part of the liver most horribly'." 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 in the same grave site in Boston's
Granary Burying Ground. He had lived for approximately 47 years.
Reaction and trials
John Adams
John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before Presidency of John Adams, his presidency, he was a leader of ...
successfully defended most of the accused soldiers against a charge of murder. Two were found guilty of manslaughter. Faced with the prospect of hanging, the soldiers pleaded ''
benefit of clergy'', and were instead
branded on their thumbs. In his arguments, Adams called the crowd "a motley rabble of saucy boys,
negro
In the English language, the term ''negro'' (or sometimes ''negress'' for a female) is a term historically used to refer to people of Black people, Black African heritage. The term ''negro'' means the color black in Spanish and Portuguese (from ...
s and molattoes,
Irish teagues and outlandish
Jack Tarrs." In particular, he charged Attucks with having "undertaken to be the hero of the night," and with having precipitated a conflict by his "mad behavior."
Two years later
United States Founding Father Samuel Adams, a cousin of John Adams, named the event the "Boston Massacre," and helped ensure it would not be forgotten. Boston artist
Henry Pelham (half-brother of the celebrated portrait painter
John Singleton Copley
John Singleton Copley (July 3, 1738 – September 9, 1815) was an Anglo-American painter, active in both colonial America and England. He was believed to be born in Boston, Province of Massachusetts Bay, to Richard and Mary Singleton Copley ...
) created an image of the event.
Paul Revere made a copy 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 tones of the victims.
The five who were killed were buried as heroes in the
Granary Burying Ground, which also contains the graves of
Samuel Adams,
John Hancock
John Hancock ( – October 8, 1793) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father, merchant, statesman, and prominent Patriot (American Revolution), Patriot of the American Revolution. He was the longest-serving Presi ...
, and other notable figures.
Customs of the period discouraged the burial of black people and white people together, with "black burials relegated to the rear or far side of the cemetery. Such a practice was not completely unknown, however.
Prince Hall, for example, was interred in
Copp's Hill Burying Ground in the
North End of Boston 39.
Legacy and honors
* 1858, Boston-area abolitionists, including
William Cooper Nell, established "Crispus Attucks Day" to commemorate him.
* 1886, the places where Crispus Attucks and Samuel Gray fell were marked by circles on the pavement. Within each circle, a hub with spokes leads out to form a wheel.
* 1888,
a monument honoring Attucks and the other victims of the Boston Massacre was erected on
Boston Common. It is over 25 feet high and about 10 feet wide. The "bas-relief" (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'', holding the broken chain of oppression in her right hand. Beneath her right foot, she crushes the royal crown of England. At the left of the figure 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 the five men who were killed that day: Crispus Attucks, Samuel Gray, James Caldwell, Samuel Maverick, and Patrick Carr. Some men died a day later.

Although that year leaders of the
Massachusetts Historical Society and the
New England Historic Genealogical Society opposed the creation of the Crispus Attucks memorial, since the 20th century both organizations have acknowledged his role and promoted interest in black history and
genealogy
Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kin ...
.
* 1940, Attucks was honored with 1 of the 33
dioramas at the
American Negro Exposition in Chicago.
* 1998, the
United States Treasury released the "
Black Revolutionary War Patriots Silver Dollar" coin featuring Attucks' image on the obverse side. Funds from sales of the coin were intended for a proposed
Black Revolutionary War Patriots Memorial in
Washington, D.C.
* 2002, the Afrocentrist scholar
Molefi Kete Asante
Molefi Kete Asante ( ; born Arthur Lee Smith Jr.; August 14, 1942) is an American philosopher who is a leading figure in the fields of African-American studies, African studies, and communication studies. He is currently a professor in the Dep ...
listed Crispus Attucks as among the
100 Greatest African Americans.
* Institutions named for Attucks include the
Crispus Attucks High School in
Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...
;
Attucks High School in
Hopkinsville, Kentucky
Hopkinsville is a list of cities in Kentucky, home rule-class city in and the county seat of Christian County, Kentucky, United States. The population at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census was 31,180.
History
Early years
The area of p ...
; Attucks Middle School in
Sunnyside,
Houston
Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
,
Texas
Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
; the
Crispus Attucks Elementary School in
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...
; the Attucks Middle School in
Dania Beach, Florida; the
Attucks Theatre in
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. It had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, third-most populous city ...
; the Crispus Attucks Association in York, Pennsylvania; Crispus Attucks Road in
Spring Valley, New York; Crispus Attucks Elementary School in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn; Crispus Attucks Park in Carbondale, Illinois; Crispus Attucks Elementary School in East St. Louis, Illinois;
Crispus Attucks Park in Washington, DC; the Crispus Attucks Center in
Dorchester, Massachusetts
Dorchester () is a Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood comprising more than in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Originally, Dorchester was a separate town, founded by Puritans who emigrated in 1630 from Dorchester, Dorset, E ...
; Crispus Attucks Place, a residential street in
Roxbury, Boston
Roxbury () is a Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
Roxbury is a Municipal annexation in the United States, dissolved municipality and one of 23 official neighborhoods of Boston used by the city for ne ...
, Massachusetts; and the Crispus Attucks Bridge in
Framingham, Massachusetts
Framingham () is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. Incorporated in 1700, it is located in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County and the MetroWest subregion of the Greater Boston ...
.
* The
Wellcome Library, in London, owns a notebook bound in what a note with it claims is Attucks' skin, although the library believes the book's leather actually comes from camel, horse, or goat.
In popular culture
* "First man to die for the flag we now hold high was a black man" is a line from
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...
's 1976 song "
Black Man".
* "Crispus Attucks, the first blasted" is a line from
Nas
Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones.
Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to:
Aviation
* Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea
* National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia
** Nas Air (S ...
's 2008 song "
You Can't Stop Us Now".
* The poet
John Boyle O'Reilly wrote the following poem when the monument was finally unveiled:
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 ../blockquote>
* Melvin Tolson begins his poem "Dark Symphony" with the lines: "Black Crispus Attucks taught / Us how to die / Before white Patrick Henry’s bugle breath / Uttered the Vertical / Transmitting cry: / 'Yea, give me liberty or give me death.'"
* 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 provided a potent message of moral courage.
* In the successful sitcom '' The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'', Will Smith
Willard Carroll Smith II (born September 25, 1968) is an American actor, rapper, and film producer. Known for his work in both Will Smith filmography, the screen and Will Smith discography, music industries, List of awards and nominations re ...
names Crispus Attucks as one of many inspirational African-American figures in history when he tries to explain why he is failing history.
* In February 2012, Wayne Brady, J. B. Smoove, and Michael Kenneth Williams, as well as Keith David, appeared in a satirical rap music video about Crispus Attucks.
* In the Netflix
Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
series '' Luke Cage'', based on the Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...
character of the same name, there is a housing development called the Crispus Attucks Complex, named in honor of Attucks. Cage also explains Attucks' role in the Boston Massacre at the end of the second episode of the series.
* Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and author. His work has continually explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary ...
's 2020 film '' Da 5 Bloods'' refers to Crispus Attucks.
References
* Kachun, Mitch.
First Martyr of Liberty: Crispus Attucks in American Memory
'. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017.
* Nell, William C. '' The Colored Patriots of the American Revolution'', 1855.
* Parr, James L. & Swope, Kevin A. ''Framingham: Legends and Lore''. The History Press, 2009.
External links
"Crispus Attucks"
''Africans in America'', PBS
Crispus Attucks Association, Inc.
*
Library of Congress exhibit, including trial documents.
Framingham Website
"The Knock-Kneed Man" a radio presentation
by Richard Durham, in the series ''Destination Freedom
''Destination Freedom'' was a series of weekly radio programs that was produced by WMAQ in Chicago. The first set ran from 1948 to 1950 and it presented the biographical histories of prominent African Americans such as George Washington Carver ...
''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Attucks, Crispus
1720s births
1770 deaths
Boston Massacre
People from Framingham, Massachusetts
Deaths by firearm in Massachusetts
African-American history in Boston
Wampanoag people
Burials at Granary Burying Ground
People of Massachusetts in the American Revolution
Black Patriots
Murdered African-American people
Murdered Native American people
Native American history of Massachusetts
Native American people in the American Revolution
Native American people from Massachusetts
18th-century American slaves
Black Native American people