Crispus Attucks and the Boston Massacre | Black Patriots: Heroes of the Revolution

Published: Sep 02, 2024 Duration: 00:06:08 Category: Entertainment

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NARRATOR: One-fifth of the population is of African descent, and slavery is a way of life in all 13 colonies. Our Black patriots begin this story in bondage. By war's end, they will have new identities in a new nation-- martyr, writer, soldier, spy. Some will change names. Some will change minds. And all will change history. ERICA ARMSTRONG DUNBAR: Crispus Attucks was born in the 1720s, born of mixed race. Both his mother and father were enslaved. His father was of African descent. His mother was Native. He's born from this lineage of enslavement, and he makes a decision as a young man to shed that status. NARRATOR: As legend goes, Crispus makes a daring escape for freedom in 1750, prompting an ad in the "Boston Gazette" that offers a glimpse at how enslaved people were viewed in colonial America. ERICA ARMSTRONG DUNBAR: "Ran away from his master, William Brown." "A mulatto fellow, about 27 years of age, named Crispus." "6 feet 2 inches high." "Had on a light-colored bearskin coat." "Blue yarn stockings." Fugitive slave ads give us a physical description of a person like Crispus Attucks. They are portrayed as property, as if they were a chair to be sold at auction. NARRATOR: For two decades after his escape, it is believed that Crispus works on trading ships and whaling vessels coming in and out of Boston, earning his keep as a harpooner and developing a reputation as a tough and fearless man. It was dangerous to be in the whaling industry. But this was really one of the few opportunities available for Black men in the 18th century. And he's also a worker, and I think that this is a really important part of his identity. CHRISTOPHER BROWN: Attucks represents a kind of-- a really important subsection of the early American community, a mobile maritime working class that's actually interracial. NARRATOR: By the winter of 1770, this fraternity of working-class Bostonians is growing in strength, thanks in large part to a common enemy. One thing that is important is that there was labor competition because a lot of the British soldiers were moonlighting jobs, taking jobs away from the colonists. This created anger. So Attucks, as a working man, was part of this struggle. NARRATOR: On March 5, tensions between the colonists and British soldiers reach a breaking point. As the story goes, a British soldier walks into a pub looking for work. He's greeted by a group of angry sailors, including Crispus Attucks. He didn't like the way he and his friends were being treated by the British. He didn't like the fact that employment was hard to come by. He didn't like the taxes that were squeezing merchant seamen. NARRATOR: Hours later, the situation escalates in front of the old statehouse. There are a group of these Black and white dockworkers who come together and try to form a public procession to declare their outrage. At that point, because he was a runaway, the prudent thing for Attucks to do would be to quietly back away and kind of get out of this fight. But that was not his, I think, character or personality. Attucks is described as being at the front of this crowd. Big guy, and he's carrying a big club. And some of the British records would say that he's brandishing the club, that he's menacing the British soldiers. We know that the British soldiers were harassing them back, and so it was a back and forth. The British had guns, and the British used them. [gunshot] What happened apparently, according to the newspaper accounts, is that he was hit twice. [gunshot] So for the first time, real blood has been shed. I mean, there have been fist fights before, knocked heads, but now there's an actual martyr. [gunshot] NARRATOR: Four others are killed that night, all of them white, in what becomes known as the Boston Massacre. The sort of local traditions of segregation were disbanded for a moment so that he and his comrades, they were buried together. There were no desegregated cemeteries. That's significant. NARRATOR: Almost immediately, colonial leaders use Attucks' death to galvanize the fight towards independence. And centuries later, it's still a battle cry against oppression. Martin Luther King, Jr., writes about Crispus Attucks, calling him one of the most influential figures in African-American history. ERICA ARMSTRONG DUNBAR: So did he know that his actions would catapult him into a sort of iconic position in American history? Absolutely not. But then again, most people who are catapulted to these kinds of iconic positions don't know that that's going to happen. He was in a place at a certain time and unafraid. [music playing]

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