NARRATOR: One-fifth
of the population is of African descent,
and slavery is a way of life in all 13 colonies. Our Black patriots begin
this story in bondage. By war's end, they will have
new identities in a new nation-- martyr, writer, soldier, spy. Some will change names. Some will change minds. And all will change history. ERICA ARMSTRONG DUNBAR: Crispus
Attucks was born in the 1720s, born of mixed race. Both his mother and
father were enslaved. His father was of
African descent. His mother was Native. He's born from this
lineage of enslavement, and he makes a decision as a
young man to shed that status. NARRATOR: As legend goes,
Crispus makes a daring escape for freedom in 1750, prompting
an ad in the "Boston Gazette" that offers a glimpse at
how enslaved people were viewed in colonial America. ERICA ARMSTRONG DUNBAR:
"Ran away from his master, William Brown." "A mulatto fellow, about 27
years of age, named Crispus." "6 feet 2 inches high." "Had on a light-colored
bearskin coat." "Blue yarn stockings." Fugitive slave ads give us
a physical description of a person like Crispus Attucks. They are portrayed as
property, as if they were a chair to be sold at auction. NARRATOR: For two
decades after his escape, it is believed that Crispus
works on trading ships and whaling vessels coming
in and out of Boston, earning his keep as a harpooner
and developing a reputation as a tough and fearless man. It was dangerous to be
in the whaling industry. But this was really one of the
few opportunities available for Black men in the 18th century. And he's also a worker, and
I think that this is a really important part of his identity. CHRISTOPHER BROWN: Attucks
represents a kind of-- a really important subsection
of the early American community, a mobile maritime working class
that's actually interracial. NARRATOR: By the winter
of 1770, this fraternity of working-class
Bostonians is growing in strength, thanks in large
part to a common enemy. One thing that is important
is that there was labor competition because a lot
of the British soldiers were moonlighting jobs, taking
jobs away from the colonists. This created anger. So Attucks, as a working man,
was part of this struggle. NARRATOR: On March 5,
tensions between the colonists and British soldiers
reach a breaking point. As the story goes, a
British soldier walks into a pub looking for work. He's greeted by a
group of angry sailors, including Crispus Attucks. He didn't like the way
he and his friends were being treated by the British. He didn't like the fact that
employment was hard to come by. He didn't like the taxes that
were squeezing merchant seamen. NARRATOR: Hours later,
the situation escalates in front of the old statehouse. There are a group
of these Black and white dockworkers
who come together and try to form a
public procession to declare their outrage. At that point, because
he was a runaway, the prudent thing
for Attucks to do would be to quietly
back away and kind of get out of this fight. But that was not his, I think,
character or personality. Attucks is described as being
at the front of this crowd. Big guy, and he's
carrying a big club. And some of the
British records would say that he's brandishing
the club, that he's menacing the British soldiers. We know that the
British soldiers were harassing them back, and
so it was a back and forth. The British had guns, and
the British used them. [gunshot] What happened
apparently, according to the newspaper accounts,
is that he was hit twice. [gunshot] So for the first time,
real blood has been shed. I mean, there have been fist
fights before, knocked heads, but now there's
an actual martyr. [gunshot] NARRATOR: Four others are killed
that night, all of them white, in what becomes known
as the Boston Massacre. The sort of local
traditions of segregation were disbanded for a moment
so that he and his comrades, they were buried together. There were no
desegregated cemeteries. That's significant. NARRATOR: Almost
immediately, colonial leaders use Attucks' death to galvanize
the fight towards independence. And centuries later,
it's still a battle cry against oppression. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
writes about Crispus Attucks, calling him one of the
most influential figures in African-American history. ERICA ARMSTRONG DUNBAR: So did
he know that his actions would catapult him into a
sort of iconic position in American history? Absolutely not. But then again, most
people who are catapulted to these kinds of
iconic positions don't know that that's
going to happen. He was in a place at a
certain time and unafraid. [music playing]