Page 35 - 1619 Project Curriculum

August 18, 2019

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⬤ March , 1770: Crispus Attucks, a fugitive from slavery who works as dockworker,

becomes the first American to die for the cause of independence after being shot in

a clash with British troops.

African & Natick blood-born tore his chest, blood reddening snow
known along paths up & down on King Street, March 5, 1770,

Boston Harbor, escaped slave, first to fall on captain’s command.

harpooner & rope maker, Five colonists lay for calling hours

he never dreamt a pursuit of happiness in Faneuil Hall before sharing a grave

or destiny, yet rallied at the Granary Burying Ground.

beside patriots who hurled a fury They had laid a foundering stone

of snowballs, craggy dirt-frozen for the Minutemen at Lexington

chunks of ice, & oyster shells & Concord, first to defy & die,
at the stout flank of
Archives. Attucks: Getty Images. as the 29th Regiment of Foot fire! the courtroom as John Adams
redcoats,
& an echo of the future rose over
aimed muskets, waiting for

defended the Brits, calling the dead
How often had he walked, gazing
a ‘‘motley rabble of saucy boys,

timbers of the wharf,
down at gray
negroes & mulattoes, Irish
as if to find a lost copper coin?
teagues & outlandish jacktars,’’
Boston Massacre: National Wind deviled cold air as he stood who made soldiers fear for their lives,
leaning on his hardwood stick,

& at day’s end only
two would pay

& then two lead bullets
with the branding of their thumbs.
By Yusef
Komunyakaa
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