Crispus Attucks

William H. Johnson, Crispus Attucks, ca. 1945, oil on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1983.95.53
Copied William H. Johnson, Crispus Attucks, ca. 1945, oil on paperboard, 29 1230 78 in. (74.978.4 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1983.95.53

Artwork Details

Title
Crispus Attucks
Date
ca. 1945
Dimensions
29 1230 78 in. (74.978.4 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of the Harmon Foundation
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on paperboard
Classifications
Keywords
  • Figure group
  • African American
  • History — United States — Revolution
  • State of being — death — execution
  • Portrait male — Attucks, Crispus
  • History — United States — Boston Massacre
Object Number
1983.95.53

Artwork Description

Johnson presented Crispus Attucks (1723--1770) in a Christ-like pose at the center of his scene of the Boston Massacre. Three American colonists, all of them praying women, face a line of British soldiers who point muskets at the unarmed group. Tensions were high when, on the night of March 5, 1770, a small unarmed band of colonists confronted armed British soldiers. Shots were fired. When the smoke cleared, Attucks, a former slave, and two others lay dead. They were the first casualties of the American Revolution.

For roughly seventy years after the Boston Massacre, the martyrdom of this Black man was largely erased. Not until 1855, when William Cooper Nell, a Black abolitionist from Boston, published a book on free people of color who fought for American liberty, was Attucks's story retold. His name became a rallying cry during the Civil War; for Johnson, he endured as a powerful symbol of courage and sacrifice. 

Exhibitions

Media - 1967.59.1146 - SAAM-1967.59.1146_2 - 141130
Fighters for Freedom: William H. Johnson Picturing Justice
March 8, 2024September 8, 2024
William H. Johnson's Fighters for Freedom series from the mid-1940s is a tribute to African American activists, scientists, teachers, and performers as well as international heads of state working to bring peace to the world.