Crispus Attucks
Crispus Attucks (l. c. 1723-1770) was an African American/Native American dockworker, sailor, and whaler who became famous as the first person killed in the Boston Massacre of 5 March 1770, which raised tensions leading to the American Revolution (1765-1789). He is often referred to as a martyr in the cause of liberty.
It is unlikely, however, that Attucks joined the mob on the night of 5 March 1770 to advance the cause of upper-class White colonists to break away from British rule. It is far more likely he was protesting the pattern of British soldiers, garrisoned in Boston, taking jobs from lower-class people to supplement the poor pay of the British Army. The fact that he was the first person killed in the Boston Massacre does not make him a "martyr for liberty" any more than the other four killed that night.
The term "Boston Massacre" was coined by the Patriot colonist Samuel Adams (l. 1722-1803) as propaganda to advance the Patriot cause, and Attucks, whose race and social status were erased by Patriots such as Adams and Paul Revere (l. 1735-1818), became a convenient figure to become the first martyr of the American Revolution. Who he actually was and why he was on King Street that night is unknown.
Life & Ancestry Theories
Scholar Mitch Kachun notes:
There will likely never be a definitive biography of Crispus Attucks. Generations of scholars have probed the sources with only limited success in uncovering information about the man's actual life.
(2)
Prior to the Boston Massacre of 5 March 1770 or, rather, to news reports of the event and the trial of the British soldiers involved later that year, Crispus Attucks' name was unknown. He may have been using the alias Michael Johnson while in Boston and is said to have come from Framingham, Massachusetts, which has linked him to a reward notice issued by one Deacon William Brown of Framingham in 1750 for the return of his escaped slave "Crispas."
Brown's notice describes a man matching Attucks' appearance and height, and the name "Crispas" is, of course, quite similar to "Crispus" so it is understandable that historians would claim that Attucks was the runaway slave, Crispas. This may not be so, however, nor is it clear that Attucks was using the alias Michael Johnson – it is possible that, after his death, he was confused with someone else of that name. He had to have been using his own name in order to be identified as Crispus Attucks shortly after the Boston Massacre.
The accepted 'biography' of his life, however, is that he was a former slave from Framingham of Native American (most likely Wampanoag) and African descent who had escaped and found work as a dockworker, sailor, and whaler and who may have arrived in Boston in early 1770 aboard a ship from the Bahamas and was scheduled to leave on another for North Carolina.
Attucks is described as over six feet tall (usually as 6 feet, 2 inches or c. 188 cm) and "stout", which was a term used for someone of strong build, and as a "mulatto" – a term used at that time to refer to Black slaves, Free Blacks, and Native Americans. Kachun and others have suggested he was a descendant of one John Attuck of Framingham who was hanged in 1676 for siding with the Wampanoag Confederacy against the colonists in King Philip's War (1675-1678).
As with the other attempts at tracing Attucks' lineage, there is no solid evidence for this connection. Historians writing on the subject tend to rely on words like "probable" or "possible" or "likely", but no documentation exists that firmly establishes a link between John Attuck and Crispus Attucks nor between one Nanny Peterattucks and Attucks nor between Attucks and any other person suggested as his mother, father, or other relative.
The claim that he was born in Framingham, Massachusetts, rests upon his identification with the runaway slave Crispas – which he may well have been – but this has never been firmly established. That being so, identifying Crispus Attucks with others of a similar surname from Framingham seems to be a mistaken endeavor.
As Framingham is not far from Boston, it seems unlikely a runaway slave from the one would take up residence in the other. There is also no evidence that Attucks was even a resident of Boston in 1770 since, as noted, accounts have him only recently arriving from the Bahamas and soon to leave for North Carolina. Most likely, he was a sailor who had found work at the docks of Boston in between jobs aboard vessels and that his involvement in the event that came to be known as the Boston Massacre had far more to do with British soldiers taking jobs away from dockhands (and other lower-class workers) than anything to do with the colonists' pursuit of independence from Great Britain.
Continue reading...
