Crispus Attucks Assignment Essay
Crispus Attucks was an African American man who was born around 1773 in Framingham Massachusetts. His father Prince Yonger is thought to have been a slave bought from Africa to America during the slave trade and the mother Nancy Attucks was a Natick Indian. Attucks was well informed and especially in the area of business. He could buy and sell products by just looking and giving them value. As a result of his sheer hard work and determination, Attucks was able to escape the bonds of slavery. In 1750, Attucks escaped from his master, a slave owner William Brown of Framingham. William, therefore, offered to pay ten pounds to any individual who would give reliable information about Attucks or return his young runaway slave. The advertisement appeared in a Boston Gazette in 1750. However, Attucks was lucky enough to escape for good and spent around twenty years working in ships coming in and out of Boston.Crispus Attucks Assignment Essay
In the early 1970s tension ran high in Boston when British soldiers settled in the area and attempted to impose British levy regulations such as the Stamp Act. American citizens protested against the taxes which they termed as repressive and coined the ideology, “no taxation without representation”. Scuffles between the locals and British armed forces were common (Weiss, 2013). To protest against the repressive levy regulations the locals frequently destroyed stores that dealt with British goods and scared suppliers and their clients. Attucks was one of the sailors who were at the forefront of those protests. A clear knowledge of the radical influences about freedom, harassment, and duty without representation triggered him to advocate for the rights of the people. Crispus Attucks Assignment Essay
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On February 22nd, 1770, a group of patriots attacked a loyalist’s store. To disperse the crowd, a British officer fired a bullet and mistakenly killed an eleven-year-old boy which really enrage the patriots. This further triggered a fight between the locals and British soldiers which ended in a grave bloodshed. Attucks being at the forefront of the fight marched on King Street where the British armed forces had assembled (Shende-Ruiz, 2015). The British soldiers had no intention of shooting the people. However, Attucks who wanted to become the hero marched forward and grabbed one of the soldier’s bayonets while uttering some words such as “kill the dogs, knock them over”. The gathering attacked the soldiers using sticks and snowballs but when one of the leaders of the British soldiers was hit, an order to shoot was given which led to the death of eleven individuals. Attucks was insubordinately and maliciously murdered at King Street Boston by being shot twice. Attucks was the only grown man among the casualties who were not given the title ‘Mr.” a sign of racial prejudice. This did not go well with the people who demanded respect for Attucks for his courageous actions for fighting in what he believed in. the people, for example, demanded that he should be buried at Granary Burial Ground where many notable citizens in the country are buried (Fiske, 1970). During Attucks’s burial, commercial activities in the street of Boston came to a standstill. Many shops remained closed to accord the fallen hero the last respect.Crispus Attucks Assignment Essay
Crispus Attucks’s heroic deeds have been recognized by many activists and especially African American activists. Attucks has been promoted as the first martyr of freedom. Besides, he has frequently been used as a symbol for strengthening black activists’ arguments for the abolition of racial discrimination and full citizenship. He has also been used to show that back people if given a fair playing ground, have the necessary mental ability to lead the people for the greater good of the society. In addition, his death triggered the society to focus on the rights of the black people in American society. Attucks’s name was also incorporated in the country’s textbooks as from the 1960s and by the 1990s, it was very had to find a textbook in the country that did not recognize Attucks.
Black abolitionists made Attucks an iconic American hero by presenting him as the first individual to die in the cause of independence. As a result, many black people in the country assert their fundamental belonging as part of the American nation (Palliser, 2014). Besides, Attucks’ deeds give an insight on issues surrounding the integration of African American actions, involvements, and standpoints into the conventional account Americans tell themselves and the world about the identity of the nation.
Attucks’ brave actions also created a way for the American Revolution. The natives realized that they could face the British government and fight for their independence. In addition, the abolition of the slave trade came to be through the calculation of enslaved people in different states in the country (Weiss, 2013). Success was also achieved in the southern part of the country where trade in slavery was predominant. Several states, for example, barred the importation of slaves and relaxed their nearly widespread limitations on masters willingly fleeing their own slaves.Crispus Attucks Assignment Essay
In conclusion, as an escapee, seaside worker, and an African American, Attucks had nothing to achieve by opposing the oppressive British laws. He might have stayed unseen and unrestricted. Yet he sacrificed his life in the streets of Boston, got short for the greater good of the American people.
References
Fiske, J. (1970). CRISPUS ATTUCKS. JSTOR, 58-67.
Palliser, J. J. (2014). THE HIDDEN LIFE OF CRISPUS ATTUCKS. journal of the American Revolution, 1-25.
Shende-Ruiz, E. (2015). Crispus Attucks. Brookline Public Schools, 1-4.
Weiss, L. (2013). Crispus Attucks and the Boston Massacre. Jr. Graphic African-American History Series, 1-24.Crispus Attucks Assignment Essay
