Gallery 1 Highlight : Crispus Attucks

Three different historical documents. The left, an excerpt from a newspaper article, is a poor black and white copy. The central image is a detailed color copy of a handwritten legal document. The right image is a colorful print showing a scene from the Boston Massacre.

Historians use primary source documents to learn more about historical figures. However, those sources may be secondhand or disagree with each other.

From left to right:

(1) Advertisement, Boston Gazette, October 2, 1750. MyHeritage, Boston Public Library.
In 1750, Deacon William Brown placed a runaway ad in the Boston Gazette for “a Molatto Fellow, about 27 years of Age, named Crispas, 6 Feet two Inches high, short curl’d Hair, his Knees nearer together than common.”

(2) Coroner’s Report, 1770. Courtesy of Revolutionary Spaces.
Crispus Attucks was identified as “Michael Johnson” in this coroner’s report, a name he possibly used to keep from being discovered by his enslavers. Newspapers soon after published his real identity.

(3) The Boston Massacre, Paul Revere, Boston, 1770. Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Paul Revere included Crispus Attucks in his iconic engraving of the Boston Massacre, immortalizing his role in the American Revolution.