President William McKinley died from the wounds he sustained in the assassination attempt eight days earlier. His death brought Theodore Roosevelt to the presidency, marking the beginning of the Progressive Era.

TODAY’S PATRIOT

Crispus Attucks (c. 1723–1770) – Widely regarded as the first martyr of the American Revolution, Crispus Attucks was a former slave of African and Native American descent who was killed during the Boston Massacre. His death galvanized colonial opposition to British occupation and made him a symbol of American resistance and sacrifice. Little is known about his early life, but his boldness on the night of March 5, 1770, secured his place in history. Attucks’s image was later revived by abolitionists in the 19th century as a symbol of black patriotism and liberty. His legacy endures as a reminder that the fight for American freedom included people of all backgrounds.

Attucks was a sailor and former enslaved person who had long worked the docks of Boston. On the night of the Boston Massacre, as tensions with British soldiers exploded into violence, Attucks stood at the front of the crowd. Eyewitnesses said he was the first to confront the soldiers and the first to fall when the shooting began. His death sent shockwaves through the colonies—John Adams later referred to the crowd as a “motley rabble,” but Attucks was hailed by patriots as a martyr. In fact, a poem written about the event soon after declared, “Honor to him who first gave his blood for freedom.”