Up a brochure at the front desk. You can join our mailing list to stay informed of upcoming programs i filling out information on your evaluation sheet jade you can pick one up at the front desk. As many of you know, we are a National Research library of American History and culture Whose Mission is to share the printed record of what is now the United States, portions of canada and the british west indies. We collect everything and everything anything and thesehing within parameters. We use these collections as the basis for all of our programs, which bring scholars, programs, writers and students together to participate in workshops and a variety of other programs about pre20thcentury america. Tonights lecture is part of a series of programs we are offering tactic to an exhibition called beyond midnight, paul revere. The exhibition is on display through june 7. One part is at the west or art museum and the other part is at the concord art museum. The exhibition will conclude its willin arkansas where it be on display from july 4 through october 20 6, 2020. The exhibition was curated by loren heres by warren hughes. Rector of fellowship and the center for historic american visual culture. The exhibition and the ancillary programming offer a fresh perspective on the legendary midnight writer by showcasing power of years many skills as a craftsman and entrepreneur. Although we know him for his evolutionary activities, he was known as a silversmith and engraver and the First American producer of copper sheet. We would like to thank the sponsors of the exhibition including the henry Lewis Foundation and the center for american historical visionary culture. Famous collection as the body mass care. Veras rendering of the event they came to be known as the boston massacre, which marked the 20 50th anniversary last week. Tonight speaker will tell us about the shifting role chris this crispus addicks has played and the story of the American Revolution and the story of the nation should of the nation. She is the professor of history at western university. Specializing in africanAmerican History, collective memory and historical writing. She has a fulbright specialist in american studies and has received awards and fellowships from the National Endowment for thehumanities, the study of united state history and denied States History and denied Status Department of education among others. His publications include, first martyr of liberty, crispus addicks and american memory, festivals of freedom, memory and meaning in africanamerican celebrations and as coeditor, the curse of cast by the slave bride, a rediscovered novel, which was named and outstanding academic novel for 2007. He has published numerous articles and book chapters such as 19thcentury black transnationalism, africanamerican response to the among others. Tion please join me in welcoming mit ch kachun. [applause] professor kachun thank you good evening, everyone. I went to thank you all for coming out tonight. Haveng whatever we might to face in this interesting time we are living in. I am pleased and honored to talk to you this evening about my book. Kayla and all of the staff and Board Members at the american antiquarian society. I am truly honored to be invited to make this presentation at one of the premier cultural and historical institutions in the nation. Is worth noting over the next several years, we are all going to be hearing a lot about various events commemorating the American Revolution. Perhaps especially here in massachusetts were so many of those events took place. The boston massacre is considered by many to be one of the earliest events linked to the beginning of true revolutionary thinking in the colonies. I have been in the area for a week now. Dissipating in some of the commemorations around boss participating in some of the commemorations around boston. For when i was consulted for, called reflecting crispus addicks. Ttucks. Pus a is that better . Sorry about that. A lot of feedback, though. As the commemorations move forward, we will ponder where the American Experience has brought us. We are going to be hearing of a lot of different versions of the events like the massacre, the tea party, the writing of the declaration and the intent of the founders and so on. Part of what has intrigued me as a historian are the ways in which different versions of our shared history are constructed political,sparate cultural or ideological agendas. Everyone seems to have their own take on events as different narratives resonate with different people at different times. We all have our favorite stories. Every nation needs a story, something that tells embers of that nation and others who they are as people. The story americans like to tell themselves about their nation is one of freedom loving people coming from england seeking religious liberty. They prospered and grew and extended their quest for freedom by throwing off the chains of the idealse based on of individualism, equality and upward mobility. Where a persons status is based solely on ability and efforts. Is a unique nation nation, and exceptional nation in this narrative whose prosperity grew, attracting immigrants from across the globe who wanted to participate in the american dream. The american nation has become a great world power and melting pot where all who share the ideals and abide by the rules of the nation are welcome to share in that dream. While there is some truth to that story, it also leaves a lot out. Has been especially important for africanamericans to create their own story as a people because the mainstream american story has always ignored them and excluded them. Understanding how africanamericans over the past two and a half centuries have developed who they are and how they fit in the larger american story is one of the central questions that interest me as a historian. One of the main things ive been trying to understand over my career and is certainly one of the main themes of first martyr of liberty. Im interested in collective memory. At a sharedarrive understanding. How do stories of the past get constructed . Who does the constructing . And why do certain stories gain widespread credibility and familiarity . Why do other stories get overlooked or forgotten . Why do some wire certain people honored as heroes while her other while others are villains . What i have tried to do in this book is examine the many different ways over the past 250 years that Crispus Attucks and by extension africanamericans in general have either been made a part of or excluded from americas understanding of the story of the American Revolution and the nation. I want to start by reading from the books opening pages. Which i hope will introduce both Crispus Attucks and the questions i explore. From the introduction, the election of barack obama began march 5, 1770 at the boston massacre with the death of Crispus Attucks. This provocative opening line from the 2009 documentary we the people is never fully explained. Viewers are left to wonder how the death of a mixed race former slave led to the election of the nations first africanamerican president over two centuries later. While the connections between obama and attucks are tenuous at best, each man has occupied that intellectual and emotional juncture at which americans attempt to understand how race has affected our understanding of what it means to be a patriot, citizen and american. These questions challenge us. First, to recognize the continuous black presence in america and American History from the 18th century to the 21st. And then to consider how americans think about africanamericans place and to ponder the process through which National Heroes and myths are constructed. The book examines how Crispus Attucks has been remembered and forgotten in the centuries long debate over citizenship and belonging. What do we really know about him and his role in the boston massacre . There is little certainty about ucks life story. Most widely accepted interpretation suggests he was born around 1723 year natick, massachusetts, a praying town of christianized indians. Africanikely of next and native american ancestry. He was likely a slave owned by William GrahamWilliam Brown of framingham until he liberated himself around 1750. He worked as a sailor around the docks until his role in the events of march 5, 1770. Most modern historians see the socalled boston massacre as a noteworthy event in the colonys growing disaffection with the British Empire. Available evidence confirms attucks was part of the unruly mob, with a small detachment of british soldier outside the king street customhouse where he and four white colonists were killed after threatening british guards with rocks, chunks of ice and clubs. Four of the victims were buried in a single grave in bostons bostons granary burying ground. Patrick carr was placed in the grave with the others. Months after that the soldiers were tried for murder. All were acquitted in only two of them acquitted of manslaughter, lightly punished and sent home. Thousands of american colonists and at least hundreds of bostonians were direct participants in mob actions 1760s and thely star of the revolution in 1775. Crispus attucks was one of those columnists one of those colonists and he was no more important or significant that arrest. They all lead a role in moving disgruntled colonists toward a new struggle for independence. It is understandable the first person to be killed by british soldiers might hold a memorable place. But the fact that he was Crispus Attucks is happenstance. Had a been another person in the mob that day or a confrontation on another day, what that person be remember at all . Why has his name been remembered who diedthose men alongside him have not . It makes sense to consider these questions because his incorporation into the story of the revolution was not a foregone conclusion. It was the result of a Conscious Campaign to construct an American Hero the first martyr , of liberty. Just a bit from chapter one. In 1782, 1 a man asked a question in his letters from an american farmer, what is the american, this new man, he was not thinking about Crispus Attucks or other people of color. He was trying to explain the nature of america and the emerging american character to a european audience to this land of distant colonials first experiment in the first revolutionary nation making. The new man he saw coming into the new man he saw coming into being was either a european or the descendent of a european. In other words, he was white. Yet during the era of the American Revolution, approximately 20 , one in every five people was of african birth or descent. Multiethnic people like Crispus Attucks were very much a part of 18thcentury america and embodied what was new and distinctive in the revolutionary nation. Attucks life experiences, as best can be surmised, allowed him to see the best and worst of 18thcentury america. The economic and social vitality of growing colonies, the oppression of slavery, the intermingling of peoples and languages, opportunities of life at sea, fluidity of identity. In americas formative era. And the language of liberty and National Rights that came to define the idealistic nations served in itself. So, in looking at stories, the stories that have grown around Crispus Attucks over 250 years, ive looked into scholarly histories, juvenile literature, public monuments, works of drama in literature, visual arts, tv, movies, the internet, and so on. Because there is so little clear evidence about who he was, people have tended to make things up about him, details about his family, his education, his religion, politics and his patriotism, things of which we have no evidence. Excuse me. So, there are a lot of distorted stories about attucks floating around people have constructed to suit their own purposes. The construction of different meetings around him started almost immediately. Future United States president john adams, in his role as defense attorney for the british soldiers, succeeded in as an outsider, a threat to the social order who led the riotous mob. Attucks claims he appears to have undertaken to be the hero of the night and to lead the army with banners and move them up to king street with clubs. Attucks cried, do not be afraid of them. They dont fire. Knock them over. He tried to knock their brains out. To have this reinforcement under the command of a mulatto fellow whose looks were able to terrify any person, what had the soldiers not to fear . He, with one hand, took a bayonet and knocked the man down. The dreadful carnage of that night is chiefly to be ascribed. Adams did his best to characterize the entire mob as a rabble that did not represent the people of boston. Identifying attucks, a racially mixed outsider, as the ringleader. Boston sees the memory to serve political agendas by portraying the victims as respectable, innocent citizens struck down by a tyrannical military power. The paul revere engraving, of the bests perhaps known piece of propaganda in this activity, showing respectable and apparently white colonists being mowed down by the abusive military. There are also annual march 5 commemorations from 17711783. With speeches. These speeches pay little attention to individuals. So, no mention of attucks, no mention of the racial makeup of the martyrs. They were referred to as our brethren, slaughtered innocents, and fellow citizens. The implication, of course, was that they were white. Between 1771 and 1850, the boston massacre remained a part of the nations collective memory. Some characterized it as a key event in forging colonial unity while others preferred to distance the revolution from what they considered a disorderly riot. In either case, attucks role in racial identity remained largely ignored, even among africanamericans. Only a few scattered references to attucks appeared in the 19th century, casting him not as a hero or a patriot like adams, but a ruffian. Samuel goodrich was of the most popular and prolific historians in the middle 19th century. In his first book of history for children and youth, which was published in numerous additions editions between 1831 and 1859, he described the boston mob led by a giant of a negro named attucks. They shouted and abuse them to fire. At the troops not fired, the had the troops not fired, the irritated and unreasonable populace would have torn the soldiers to pieces. It appears from this text and others that identified attucks racially, brought him to the first time to the attention of africanamerican abolitionists. Once they learned about attucks, they made him into a usable symbol. William cooper nells colored patriots of the revolution in 1855 showed attucks as the first martyr of the American Revolution, who was of and with the people and never regarded as otherwise. He was the most responsible for Crispus Attucks bursting onto the american scene in the 1860s as the fundamental example of black patriotism and citizenship. In mythology, black activists ignored his native american ancestry and presented him as a unequivocally black man who the first to sacrifice his life on the altar of American Freedom. His identification with the nations founding and mythic image as the first martyr of liberty was a careful historical reconstruction and intended to bolster morale. Virtually unknown to black activists before the 1840s, by the 1850s, he had become one of the most widely recognized symbols of the black patriotism and citizenship. Attucks prominence among black and white abolitionists grew as black men donned blue uniforms and risked their lives for the union and dismantle american slavery. So hes widely known in the 18th century and received attention through the reconstruction era. The errection of the attucks monument on Boston Common in 1888, also sometimes referred to as the boston massacre monument, was the most publicly visible honor attucks received up to that time. It was also a turning point. It was erected with black and white support but drew a lot of criticism from conservative bostonians. The leader of the Boston Historical Society declared the proposed monument was a waste of the publics money and these men were rioters, not patriots. Attucks, in particular, was a rowdy person, killed while engaged in defiance of the law. A few years later, one long time bostonian referred to him as i a half indian, half negro rowdy who shouldve been strangled the day he was born. As jim crow segregation took over, africanamericans faced a new and troubling reality. This next reading is from the start of chapter four, which is titled Crispus Attucks meets jim crow. On a chill january day in 1879, william h palmer, an africanamerican revenue inspector awaited the birth of his fourth child. We cannot know the conversations he and his wife and family may have had about naming the child. But when the baby boy came into the world, he became known as Crispus Attucks palmer. At the age of 21, crispus still lived in norfolk with his mother and his siblings. 10 years later, he was on his own and they have three young daughters. He had a son named Crispus Attucks palmer jr. A few years later, he registered for the world war i draft, although he did not serve. Then he was a widower and lived with his children to norfolk city, where he owned his home free and clear, and worked as a clerk at the