First Martyr of Liberty explores how Crispus Attucks's death in the 1770 Boston Massacre, often cited as the first man to die in the American Revolution, led to his achieving mythic significance in African Americans' struggle to incorporate their experiences and heroes into the mainstream of the American historical narrative. While the other victims of the Massacre have been largely ignored, Attucks is widely celebrated as the first to die in the cause of freedom during the era of the American Revolution. He became a symbolic embodiment of black patriotism and citizenship. This book traces Attucks's career through both history and myth to understand how his public memory has been constructed through commemorations and monuments; institutions and organizations bearing his name; juvenile biographies; works of poetry, drama, and visual arts; popular and academic histories; and school textbooks. There will likely never be a definitive biography of Crispus Attucks since so little evidence exists about the man's actual life. While what can and cannot be known about Attucks is addressed here, the focus is on how he has been remembered--variously as either a hero or a villain--and why at times he has been forgotten by different groups and individuals from the eighteenth century to the present day.
Mitch Kachun is Professor of History at Western Michigan University. He is the author of Festivals of Freedom: Memory and Meaning in African American Emancipation Celebrations, 1808-1915 and co-editor of The Curse of Caste; or the Slave Bride: A Rediscovered African American Novel by Julia C. Collins.
AcknowledgmentsIntroductionChapter 1: Who Was This Man?Chapter 2: The Dustbin of History: Crispus Attucks and American Amnesia, 1770s-1840sChapter 3: First Martyr of Liberty: Crispus Attucks and the Struggle for Citizenship in the Civil War EraChapter 4: Crispus Attucks Meets Jim Crow: The Segregation of American Memory, 1870s-1910sChapter 5: Crispus Attucks Meets the New Negro: Black History and Black Heroes between the World WarsChapter 6: Crispus Attucks Meets Dorie Miller: Black Patriotism and Activism in the World War II EraChapter 7: Crispus Attucks and the Black Freedom Struggle, 1950s-1970sChapter 8: Crispus Attucks from the Bicentennial to the Culture Wars, 1970s-1990sChapter 9: Crispus Attucks in Twenty-First Century AmericaConclusionNotesIndex
A kaleidoscopic social biography of how Crispus Attucks obtained immortality, symbolism, and continued dynamism through his actions against British troops occupying areas of Boston. First Martyr of Liberty is an excellent read to explore how myths proliferate, how scholarship can illuminate, and how one can choose to commemorate a sacrificed life.
