|
| Crispus Attucks Freedom Martyr
1723 - 1770 "Don't be afraid," he shouted. "they dare not fire." As spokesman and leader of the Boston citizens rebelling against the garrisoned British soldiers, Crispus Attucks uttered these words a few minutes before the British soldiers did indeed open fire. Hit in the chest, he fell back. The enrages citizens surged forth. When the smoke and din of the 1770 melee settled, five citizens lay wounded and bleeding. Three were dead; Crispus Attucks, a forty- seven year old fugitive slave, was one of them. He was the first man to die in America's struggle for independence from British rule. Of Afro-Indian decent, Attucks had managed to escape discovery for twenty years, having run away from his Farmington, Massachusetts, master. He became a merchant seaman and worker on the docks of Boston, and later answered Samuel Adams call to the dockworkers, to protest the British troops guarding of customs commissioners. Attucks, incensed, responded and showed up with a crowd of about fifty citizens. Brandishing snowballs, sticks and clubs, the citizens approached the British soldiers who were armed with muskets. Apparently situated out in front, Crispus Attucks urged the mob on. As they approached King Street, where the Customs House was located, someone threw an object that hit one of the soldiers. As the crowd pressed on, the order, "FIRE," was heard. Although only five citizens were killed in the attack, Samuel Adams called it a massacre and an example of the tyrannical use of power by the English. It is ironic that a fugitive slave was willing to sacrifice his life, and was the first to die in a rebellion that ultimately led to the Revolutionary War, a war that secured freedom for Anglo Americans, but not African Americans. Related Links: | |
