CRISPUS ATTUCKS

Attucks (1723?-1770) was the first of five men to die in the Boston massacre. Born of a black slave and a Natick Indian mother, he lived in Framingham, Massachusetts, until running away from his master in 1750 and sailing as a harpoonist on a whaling ship. On the evening of March 5, 1770, he was at his duties as a dockworker in Boston harbor when a church bell rang to summon the citizens. Attucks and his companions answered the call, and when they entered King Street armed with clubs, the British opened fire, killing Attucks with two bullets. Until the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Boston commemorated the deaths of the men who died during the massacre on "Crispus Attucks Day." He is said to have been the first to die for the dream of freedom, justice, and equality in the birth of his nation.

Reference
Smith, Jessie Carney. Notable Black American Men. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Research, Inc., 1999. 40-42.

JESSE L. BROWN

Brown was born in Mississippi and was the first African American to have earned naval aviator's wings. His plane crashed while he was on a combat mission over North Korea in December 1950, and he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal posthumously. Ensign Brown was honored once more in 1972 when the Navy launched a ship named for him, this being the first ship in the U.S. Navy to be named after a black naval officer.

Reference
Greene, Robert E. Black Defenders of America, 1775-1973. Chicago, IL: Johnson Publishing Company, Inc., 1974. 214.

WILLIAM H. CARNEY

Carney (1840-1908) was born in Norfolk, Virginia, and when freed moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts. During the Civil War, he joined the 55th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the unit that led the attack on For Wagner, in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. Carny carried the regimental colors in the attack and carried them back, though severely wounded, to the only surviving officer. He became the first African American to earn the Congressional Medal of Honor, though his medal was not authorized until 1900, making him the last African American Civil War veteran to receive his award.