This Day in Black History: March 5, 1770
Crispus Attucks, a merchant sailor of Indian and African descent, and four other colonists were killed in what would be known as the Boston Massacre, which resulted from increased tensions between Bostonians and British soldiers occupying the city to enforce unpopular taxation measures passed by the British parliament. After the crowd jeered at the soldiers to fire, one British officer unloaded his weapon, prompting other soldiers to fire their weapons into the crowd. Attucks and the four other men are often regarded as the first fatalities of the American Revolution.
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