Reflecting Attucks is a virtual exhibit that examines the memory of Crispus Attucks, a man of African & Native descent who was the first to die in the Boston Massacre, an event now regarded as the start of the American Revolution.
Revolutionary Spaces offers all of the content from our current exhibit on Attucks inside Boston’s Old State House, just across the street from the site of the Boston Massacre. We are folding in digital exclusive content that we couldn’t fit on the walls of the exhibit, and holding online panels to provide a space to come together and reflect on what Attucks can mean for all of us today.
Gallery Talk
3:30PM
Join Revolutionary Spaces staff for brief gallery talks highlighting the key stories and themes in each of our gallery spaces.
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We hope you’ll join us for this journey. Please sign up for our newsletter or follow us on social media to keep up to date on the latest content releases and panels. If you are in Boston, you can buy tickets to see the entire exhibit at the Old State House. And if you have comments or questions about the project, email us at attucks@revolutionaryspaces.org.
View the Exhibit
- Introduction
Examining the few details we know about Crispus Attucks’s life and how his legacy has evolved over 250 years.Read more → - A Man of Many Worlds
Attucks’s views were likely shaped by his life as a mariner of African and Native descent living in British-occupied Boston.Read more → - Fighting for Change
Generations of Americans called on the memory of Attucks in their own struggles for freedom and equality.Read more → - Attucks in Art
Artists portrayed Attucks to remind the nation that people of African and Native descent are central to the American story.Read more → - Fighting for Tomorrow
What does the memory of Crispus Attucks mean to us today?Read more →
Digital Exclusives
- VIDEO | Grief, Remembrance, Justice
An exploration of how our memories of the legendary Boston activist Melnea Cass can help us channel grief into a call for lasting change.Read more → - VIDEO | Attucks and the Birth of a Nation
JAN 27: How William Monroe Trotter, a prominent Black Boston activist, protested the white nationalist film by invoking the memory of Crispus Attucks.Read more → - VIDEO | Monumental Attucks
NOV 10: African American leaders in late 19th century Boston fought to create a lasting monument to Crispus Attucks on Boston Common.Read more → - VIDEO | Demanding Freedom: Attucks and the Abolition Movement
19th presented Attucks as the first martyr of the Revolution who died fighting for liberty, an image that resonated powerfully with those seeking emancipation for African Americans.Read more → - Video | Imagining Attucks
Explores how Attucks has been interpreted through the years and grapples with the challenges that come with bringing Attucks to life.Read more → - Video | Liberty & Sovereignty in 18th Century New England
Examining the political conversations that were taking place around the time of the Boston Massacre among white colonists and the African- and Native-descended communities.Read more → - Video | Man of Many Worlds Online Panel
A lively discussion about Attucks’s Afro-Indian community and reflect on the experiences he might have had that informed his thinking about resistance and protest and ultimately brought him to King Street on the night of the Boston Massacre.Read more → - Video | Discovering Crispus – A Play in Process
Exploring how the memory of Attucks has inspired generations of activists to fight for social change.Read more → - Fighting for TomorrowWhat does the memory of Crispus Attucks mean to us today?Read more →