Biography of Crispus Attucks

Crispus Attucks was born about 1723 in Framingham, Massachusetts. He does not have an exact date of birth because he was born a slave. But this date is a good guess. His family lived in a cottage in Framingham. His father’s name was Prince. He was an African American. His mother’s name was Nancy. She was a Native American. He had a sister named Phoebe. They were all slaves too. Because Crispus was a slave he did not go to school. He liked to play and listen to stories. When Crispus was a young man, he escaped from slavery because he did not want to be free. He traveled to Boston Harbor where he became a sailor and fisherman. He also had a job in whaling.

Crispus Attucks was very tall compared to other people at the time of the Revolutionary War. He was 6 feet 2 inches tall. He was a sailor a fisherman and a whaler for 20 years.

Then one day, March 5, 1770 he was having dinner. He and some other people who were eating heard a little boy crying who had been hit in the head because he made fun of a British soldier.

The people who were near the little boy were mad and they started throwing snowballs at the British. People in the crowd picked up sticks to throw at the soldiers.

Crispus Attucks was very brave and not afraid of the British. He was right in front of the soldiers and started fighting with them. Someone in the crowd yelled “Fire!” or an officer said "Fire!” No one knows what happened before because different people wrote different things. What they all said was that Crispus Attucks was the first shot. He was shot in the chest and died as soon as he was hit. Nine other people were shot. Five of them were killed. This day is known as the Boston Massacre.

Crispus Attucks is the first person to die in 1770 in the beginning of the revolutionary war in order for all Americans to free. He was a slave who gave his life to fight for freedom even though other African Americans were still slaves. He made sacrifices like Veterans in other Wars. He is buried in Boston in the Granary Burying Ground. The contribution Crispus Attucks made was his life because he believed in freedom and wanted to fight for it.

Conscious Choices of African Americans during the American Revolution by Ann Chandler Howell Ph.D. Illustrated by Wayne Anthony Still 1991

Grolier Encyclopedia 2000 Grolier 1999

Christopher is 10 years old and is in grade 5 at the Mary Lyon School. He likes to read, write and draw.