Crispus Attucks (c. 1723 – March 5, 1770) was killed in the Boston Massacre in Boston, Massachusetts. He has been frequently named as the first martyr of the American Revolution, an appellation which was used as early as 1851 by abolitionists petitioning the Massachusetts legislature for erection of a monument to his memory, a petition that was denied. W. Nell, Colored Patriots of the American Revolution, published in 1855 by R.F. Wallcut (Boston) with an introduction by Harriet Beecher Stowe, argues (at pages 13-18) on the one hand that the first man killed in the revolution was actually Christopher Snyder, not Crispus Attucks, but on the other hand that the legislature's denial of a petition for the monument "was to be expected, if we accept the axiom that a colored man never gets justice done him in the United States, except by mistake." Crispus Attucks remains an important inspirational figure in American history.

Little is known for certain about Crispus Attucks beyond that he, along with Samuel Gray and James Caldwell, died "on the spot" during the incident.^[1] Two major sources of eyewitness testimony about the Boston Massacre, both published in 1770, did not refer to Attucks as a "Negro," or "black" man. The first was a report commissioned by the town of Boston, "A Short Narrative of the Horrid Massacre," which contained over one hundred depositions from locals about what they saw on March 5, 1770. The second source, "The Trial of William Wemms," referred to Attucks more than a dozen times as a "mulatto" or "molatto," and once as an "Indian", another as a "tall man," and yet another as a "stout," or muscular man. While 19th-century anti-slavery advocates later focused on Attucks' African heritage, Bostonians in 1770 considered him mixed-race.

It was only in the early nineteenth century, as the Abolitionist movement gained momentum in Boston, that Attucks was lauded as an example of a black American who played a heroic role in the history of the United States -- thereby shaping the story of Attucks' identity.^[2] Because Crispus Attucks had Wampanoag ancestors, his story also holds special significance for many Native Americans.^[3]

(... from Wikipedia on 2010-08-28 11:24:14 )