First martyr of the American Revolution: Former slave Crispus Attucks

Note from the author:

Independence Day can be seen as a controversial holiday. It celebrates the early U.S. colonies throwing off the chains of the British monarchy. It brings about conflicting feelings given that the enslavement of Black people and the genocide of Native Americans was carried out over a very long period of U.S. history.

One could argue that Black and brown people and Native Americans have no reason to acknowledge July 4 due to this history. This would be a limiting view.

In telling the story of Crispus Attucks we show how multifaceted history can be. Attucks, a man of Black and Indigenous descent who escaped slavery, led in sparking what could be described as part one of the American revolution. Dismantling the power of the reactionary British monarch moved the country along to later do away with the U.S. slaveholder class and the exploitation of enslaved Black labor. The victory in the Civil War, the “second American revolution,” paved the way for the later epic struggles for civil rights. The Civil War was part two of the American Revolution, but it would not have been possible without part one.

It is a fact that the enslavement of Black people helped form the building blocks of capitalism and the world economy of today. It is a fact that Native American people are the victims of genocide in this buildup of capitalism in the U.S. It is a fact that many millions of people of color have and are being victimized. It is also a fact that millions of white workers have suffered and died during this process. The beautiful thing, however, is that there is ongoing now an uprising against the police violence and the systemic racism that has bolstered the oppression of all these groups and the people involved in the uprising are folks who are part of a great big beautiful multi-racial, multi-national working class and their allies. This is cause to celebrate this July 4....

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