Crispus Attucks
Crispus Attucks ( * ca 1723 in British North America; † March 5, 1770 in Boston, Massachusetts ) was a dock worker with roots in Africa and the Wampanoag. He was the first person who was shot during the massacre of Boston by the British troops, and is therefore also referred to as the first martyr of the American Revolution.
Background
About Attucks is little more known than that he died along with Samuel Gray and James Caldwell during the Boston Massacre on site. Historians do not agree on whether he was a free man or an escaped slave, only his mixed heritage is secured.
Although the actual extent of his involvement in the incident is unclear, Attucks was an icon of abolitionism and was always listed as an example of the first black hero of the American Revolution. The other victims of the attack were Samuel Gray and James Caldwell, who - as well as self Attucks - died on the spot while Samuel Maverick and Patrick Carr later succumbed to their wounds.
In the early 19th century, the movement of the abolitionists became increasingly important, and their supporters raised Attucks emerged as African Americans, who had played a heroic role in the history of the United States. Because Attucks ancestors had with the Wampanoag, his story has a special meaning for the Indians.
The five victims of the massacre were buried as heroes in the Granary Burying Ground Cemetery, where John Hancock and other personalities in U.S. history lie.