The Boston Massacre 1770

On March 5th , 1770 the “Boston Massacre” took place and 5 colonists were killed. It began because a group of ‘Patriots’ and youths were throwing snowballs, stones, and sticks at the British soldiers. They were reacting to taxes called the “intolerable acts”.  After being taunted and called names by the young crowd of rebels, one of the British soldiers then opened fire and the rest followed.

The Boston Massacre helped spark the Revolutionary war because it was used as a form of emotional propaganda. The growing mistrust among the British soldiers and Americans played a big part in the war, and why it occurred. The 5 victims of the Boston Massacre were Samuel Gray, James Caldwell, Samuel Maverick, Patrick Carr and Crispus Atttucks who was the first African American to die for the Revolution. ‘Crispus Attucks’ can be seen in the photograph below.

http://www.biography.com/people/crispus-attucks-9191864#early-life

Crispus Attucks’ father ‘Prince Yonger’ was a freed slave who was brought to America from Africa. Crispus’s mother was known as ‘Nancy Attucks’ whom was a Natick Indian who was a  member of a tribe. Crispus Attucks was a merchant seaman and a dockworker of Native and African descent. Boston Accepted him as a mixed race. Crispus Attucks was also known as an icon for his acts in an anti-slavery movement in the 18th Century because he constantly was breaking free of his master and getting jobs as a free man at the Boston city docks.  In 1888 there was a Crispus Attucks monument in Boston.