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Best Answer - Chosen by VotersCrispus Attucks (1723 -- March 5, 1770) was one of the first of five people killed in the Boston Massacre in Boston, Massachusetts. He has been frequently named as the first martyr of the American Revolution and is the only person killed in the Boston Massacre whose name is commonly remembered. He remains an important and inspirational figure in American history.

Little is known for certain about Attucks other than that he was killed in the Boston Massacre. Fragmentary evidence suggests that he may have been a "mulatto" with African and Native American ancestry. In the early 1800s, as the Abolitionist movement gained momentum in Boston, Attucks was lauded as an example of a black American who played a heroic role in the history of the United States. Because Crispus Attucks may also have had Wampanoag Indian ancestors, his story also holds special significance for many Native Americans.

Attucks has often been praised in writing meant to inspire Americans to work towards the ideals of freedom and racial equality. In 1858, Boston-area Abolitionists established "Crispus Attucks Day." In 1888, a monument honoring him was erected on Boston Common.

In the poetry of John Boyle O'Reilly Attucks was described as "leader and voice that day; The first to defy, and the first to die...riot or revolution, or mob or crowd as you may, such deaths have been seeds of nations." Martin Luther King, Jr., referred to Crispus Attucks in the introduction of Why We Can't Wait (1964) as an example of a man whose contribution to history, though much-overlooked by standard histories, could be revered as a source of moral courage.

One author wrote this appraisal of Attucks's significance:

He is one of the most important figures in African-American history, not for what he did for his own race but for what he did for all oppressed people everywhere. He is a reminder that the African-American heritage is not only African but American and it is a heritage that begins with the beginning of America.

I hoped this helped, it's all I can remember.

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