Remember first martyr for liberty

In Black History Month we should remember that the freedom and independence of America partly began with an African American at the Boston Massacre.

The first person to die for our great country was Crispus Attucks, a sailor and rope-maker of mixed African and American Indian descent. Since Great Britain paid its soldiers so poorly, many of them had to seek part-time jobs when they were off duty. Competition from the influx of British troops for work threatened to depress the wages of American workers such as Attucks. He was in danger of being seized by the British to forcibly serve in the British navy.

His ire toward the British was extreme. A British soldier seeking work entered the tavern where Attucks was drinking. Attucks was among the patrons who cursed the soldier and harassed him until he left the establishment. According to testimony at the trial of the British soldiers who killed Attucks and three other colonists, Attucks was at the front of the mob that went to confront the British soldiers. His brazen defiance took great courage because since he had escaped slavery, he faced the risk of being arrested and returned to slavery.

Attucks tried to hit British officer Preston and then knocked away a soldier's gun and hit him in the face or head. He yelled for the other colonists "kill the dogs, knock them over." The soldier somehow regained control of his gun and shot Attucks in the chest, thereby killing him.

In total five patriots were killed. This event became known as the Boston Massacre, No one was talking about American independence in 1770. But this event further incensed colonists already tired of British rule and roused them to fight for American independence ultimately won in October 1781 at Yorktown.

Stewart E Brekke

Downers Grove