When the British soldier punched him, he hesitated to fight back. Their patrols were overrunning Boston, harassing free Blacks like him, trying to replace them in already underpaid jobs.
But he needed his job. How would all his sacrifices – even changing his name to hide his true identity - pay off?
Like most free Black people, he’d built a meager life as a sailor and ropemaker – but stayed in the shadows. His plan to stay low would have worked, were it not for his burning rage.
There were over 550,000 enslaved Blacks in America in 1770 – and he used to be one of them! Both his African father and Wampanoag Indian mother had been enslaved.
If he retaliated, Crispus Attucks could be sold back into slavery. But as violence exploded around him, he joined the fight.
He decided to determine his own fate and in doing so kicked off the revolution that would free America!
Crispus Attucks was the first man to die in the Boston Massacre – which led to America’s Revolutionary War.
Although his tragic, needless death was a result of white tyranny and racism, Attucks’ determination to fight for his rights became a symbol of Black Americans’ struggle for freedom and equality.
How are you determining your fate in the face of oppression?