Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: O freedom, O freedom O freedom over.
[00:00:11] Speaker B: Me.
[00:00:13] Speaker A: And before I'd be a slave I'd be buried in my grave and go home to my Lord and be.
[00:00:29] Speaker C: Free.
[00:00:32] Speaker D: Destination Freedom in cooperation with the Chicago Defender, WMAQ brings you Destination Freedom, a special radio series dramatizing the great democratic heritage of the Negro people. A part of the pageant of American history.
The second president of the United States, John Adams, once said, the world will never forget the noble, daring and excusable rashness of Crispus Attucks in the holy cause of liberty. On Boston common there stands a monument to his deed. Today, Destination Freedom tells the story of Crispus Attucks, the first American to give his life for American independence. A story entitled the knock Kneed Man.
[00:01:43] Speaker E: In Boston, the soldiers looked all day and half the night for the knock kneed men. In the year 1770, when a king wrote the laws of the land, they looked for the knock kneed men. In Virginia, young Tom Jefferson had just passed the bar. In Jamestown, a slave ship docked with half its cargo dead. In Boston in 1770, freedom was a whisper. While the soldiers searched for the knock kneed men in the main square, Captain Cox surprised the guard.
[00:02:15] Speaker F: God.
[00:02:16] Speaker G: Who's there?
[00:02:17] Speaker F: Well, have you seen him?
[00:02:19] Speaker G: Who's there?
[00:02:20] Speaker F: It's your captain, you fool. Over that gun.
[00:02:23] Speaker B: I thought it was one of the rebels, sir.
[00:02:24] Speaker F: I thought I asked you, have you seen him?
[00:02:26] Speaker B: I don't know what all I've seen tonight, sir. Just a uniform of the king's soldiers. Makes the crowds fighting mad. They threw stones at us all day. And tonight an old woman spat on me. We beat them down, we knocked their heads in. But still they mill around waiting for a sign to attack us. What's gotten into the colonists, sir?
[00:02:42] Speaker F: What's the matter? Stop blubbering and answer my questions. I said, have you seen him?
[00:02:46] Speaker D: Him?
[00:02:47] Speaker B: Oh, I don't know, sir.
[00:02:49] Speaker H: What do you know?
[00:02:50] Speaker F: Do you know your orders?
[00:02:51] Speaker B: Yes, sir. Capture him if possible. Kill him if necessary.
[00:02:54] Speaker F: Then keep your eyes peeled. He'll be here as though he has an appointment with us. What are you nervous about?
[00:03:00] Speaker B: It's just that I'm new and I've never seen him before.
[00:03:03] Speaker F: You can tell a black man from a white man, can't you?
[00:03:05] Speaker B: Yes, sir, but I don't know the particulars.
[00:03:07] Speaker F: His particulars don't matter. Once you see him, you know it's him. Where he came from, who his master was, I don't know. His name is Crispus Attucks. Some 20 years ago he was a slave.
Now he leads the Crowd Wherever the rebels are, you will find him in the square.
[00:03:27] Speaker E: The captain talked and the guard kept his eyes peeled for the knock kneed men. Snow fell elsewhere in Boston. The knock kneed man set out to keep his appointment. Walked into the night and thought of a day 20 years earlier when he made his appointment. On that same day, a slave master had walked into a newspaper office with certain particulars for the editor.
[00:03:50] Speaker C: Particulars? How many particulars do you stupid editors need to catch one slave? Well, I'm not a bloodhound, sir. Do you know who I am? I haven't the slightest idea. I'm Cyrus Brown of Farmington. I own the mills your paper comes from. Well, if you'll just Describe your man, Mr. Brown, we'll run an ad every day. I'm offering £100 for his return. Yes, sir. £100. You writing this down? Oh, yes, sir.
[00:04:17] Speaker B: His name?
[00:04:18] Speaker C: Crispus Crispus Attucks. Crispus attucks. Age? Near 25. Looks 45. Any identification?
[00:04:27] Speaker D: Plenty.
[00:04:28] Speaker C: Cat O9 tail lashes on his back. He escaped before. You see a Height big fellow, 6ft 2 inches tall. His knees.
Yes. Knees a bit closer together than the Almighty usually puts. Knees knocked positively. Now, he wore a gray cap, checked woolen shirt, bare skin coat. Had on my brand new buckskin buckle toe shoes. If he's not wearing brown stockings, he's wearing blue. Only had two pair in a month.
[00:04:58] Speaker E: The gray cap was black with mud from the ditches. The shoes wore out and the knock kneed man went barefooted in the New England hills. He staggered, slept, stole, fought, pushed ahead while dogs barked and hunters called.
[00:05:12] Speaker A: Catch him. Hurry up. Catch him. £100 reward. A hundred pounds.
[00:05:17] Speaker E: Hundred pounds.
[00:05:18] Speaker C: Kate.
[00:05:19] Speaker A: Get my gun. Get my gun. He can't hold out long. Keep looking. He can't hold out long. He went down by the Quaker's place.
[00:05:26] Speaker G: Look.
[00:05:26] Speaker H: Look.
[00:05:26] Speaker A: He's firing. You can tell by his footprints. Hurry men. Hurry.
[00:05:29] Speaker C: Oh, no.
[00:05:30] Speaker A: He went this way. This way. Dax. Forward place. He went that way.
[00:05:34] Speaker E: He went this way. He went that way. He ran, he walked, he crawled. Then the knock kneed man staggered into a barn, dropped down on the soft hay. Forgot the dog's master's wits. Fell asleep and slept on while the cock crowed. And while a girl came near singing.
Slept while she ran off and told her father.
[00:06:07] Speaker G: Yes.
[00:06:07] Speaker E: Yes.
[00:06:08] Speaker G: Now become Abigail. Reach me my shoes. Be sure it's a runaway slave.
[00:06:13] Speaker I: He looks like the papacy.
[00:06:14] Speaker G: We shall be needing the reward to pay off the king's men. Praise the Lord.
[00:06:18] Speaker I: What does thee intend to do? With him, Father.
[00:06:20] Speaker G: I'll just let the Lord guide me. Where's the gun? How much reward was it?
[00:06:24] Speaker I: A hundred pounds. But we can't do it.
[00:06:26] Speaker A: We can.
[00:06:27] Speaker G: There are Quartman troops in every big farmhouse. That much money could pay them off. Pay taxes, too.
[00:06:33] Speaker I: But Father, the Church says you can.
[00:06:35] Speaker G: Don't remind me of that girl. Thee's like thy mother, rest her soul. Well, I'm ready. Don't stand there.
[00:06:44] Speaker I: What would the Lord say?
[00:06:45] Speaker G: Would the Lord want us to be slaves to the King's troops? A hundred pounds don't come our way every day. Now lead the way.
[00:06:57] Speaker E: And in the cool morning, while the farmer figured the trigger of his blunderbuss, the knock kneed man turned on his back as the cock crowed twice and opened his eyes.
[00:07:10] Speaker G: Get up and put up the hands.
[00:07:16] Speaker I: He just stands there and stares at us.
[00:07:19] Speaker G: Keep the hands up or I'll blow the head off.
[00:07:22] Speaker I: He looks so tall and thin and tired.
[00:07:26] Speaker G: Who art thou?
Canst thou speak?
[00:07:31] Speaker J: Yes, I speak. Father, put down the gun.
I'm not here to harm thee.
[00:07:38] Speaker G: Asid. Who art thou?
[00:07:40] Speaker J: I'm Crispus Attax.
[00:07:42] Speaker G: Ye see, Gull. It's him.
Who's thy master?
[00:07:47] Speaker J: I'm my own master.
[00:07:49] Speaker G: No such thing. Thee belongs to Brown. Thee's going back to him.
[00:07:53] Speaker J: I'll never go back to slavery alive, Father.
[00:07:56] Speaker G: Then I'll take the back. Dead Father.
[00:07:58] Speaker I: Thee doesn't mean that. The Church says to.
[00:08:01] Speaker G: Never mind, girl. It's money we need. It's money we'll get.
[00:08:04] Speaker J: I say it'll be a dead man you'll get.
Do you think I dared the dogs and hunters and the hunger to be afraid to dare death from you?
Stand aside. Let me pass.
[00:08:16] Speaker G: Stand back.
[00:08:17] Speaker J: Going up the road, farmer?
[00:08:19] Speaker G: I said I'll shoot.
[00:08:21] Speaker J: Then shoot. Step aside and shoot, man.
[00:08:24] Speaker G: For the sake of the Lord, don't parse me.
[00:08:27] Speaker J: Stand aside.
[00:08:31] Speaker I: Father. They dropped the gun.
[00:08:34] Speaker G: Oh, Lord, what was I about to do?
What has death and the fear of the King made me become?
Did I escape the oppression in Scotland to become a slave hunter?
[00:08:47] Speaker H: Oh, Father.
[00:08:50] Speaker G: No, girl. I told you the Lord would guide me, and he did. The cause of freedom is the cause of God. I know it. And unto thee, stranger, thy courage forced me to keep my faith.
[00:09:05] Speaker J: Your faith kept me alive.
Which road leads to Boston?
[00:09:10] Speaker G: Either. But would they have a bite to eat?
[00:09:14] Speaker J: A bite to eat, if you don't mind.
[00:09:17] Speaker E: Abigail.
[00:09:18] Speaker G: Look alive, girl. Don't send her gaping. Set the breakfast table. We've got a guest.
[00:09:32] Speaker E: The farmer fed a guest who was hungry for more than food. In New York, the people burned the image of King George. In Boston, a whaling ship skipper looked for sailors near the Quaker farmer's house. A British captain was on his way to quarter his troops on the farm.
Inside, the farmer and the knock kneed man spoke of ships and sailors.
[00:09:56] Speaker G: It's on the sea where they can be free. Man. Head from the docks of Boston. Do as I tell ye.
[00:10:03] Speaker J: Is the sea free?
[00:10:05] Speaker G: For some it is. Find my brother Angus. He's skipper and the whaler. Tell him I sent thee.
[00:10:11] Speaker I: Is he sending him to Uncle Kirk?
[00:10:12] Speaker G: Mind your manners, Abigail. Attucks will be wanting another glass of milk.
[00:10:16] Speaker I: Yes.
[00:10:17] Speaker J: Do you think he'll take me on?
[00:10:20] Speaker G: Might as well try. It's a rough crew he's got. But thou can take care of thyself, Father. Yes, Abigail.
[00:10:28] Speaker I: Soldiers are coming up the walk.
[00:10:30] Speaker G: Soldiers?
[00:10:31] Speaker I: The King soldiers. There's a captain in front. Are they looking for attics?
[00:10:36] Speaker G: No, no, not this time.
[00:10:40] Speaker E: No.
[00:10:41] Speaker G: It's for me.
[00:10:42] Speaker I: Why, Father?
[00:10:45] Speaker A: Open in the name of His Majesty.
[00:10:47] Speaker H: Open in the name of the King.
[00:10:49] Speaker G: Let them in, Abigail. I know what they come for.
[00:10:53] Speaker I: What art thou going to say to them?
[00:10:54] Speaker G: The Lord will tell me what to do when the time comes.
Let them in.
[00:11:01] Speaker I: Yes, Father.
[00:11:06] Speaker F: You needn't hold me out and hide your valuables, farmer. I am not here to rob you.
[00:11:10] Speaker G: Then what art thou here for?
[00:11:12] Speaker F: Answer questions, don't ask them. We need your farm to quarter the king's troops.
[00:11:17] Speaker I: Quarter the king's troops? Is there a war?
[00:11:20] Speaker F: There's no war. But there are rebels and radicals agitating against His Majesty's laws. Our soldiers will see that taxes are paid and the laws are carried out. You will quarter some of them here and that you can pay for their upkeep elsewhere. Now, if you have £50.
[00:11:38] Speaker G: £50? £50.
[00:11:42] Speaker F: Don't stand there mumbling, Quaker. You have money hidden. I know it. How else could you afford a slave?
[00:11:48] Speaker G: He's not a slave.
[00:11:49] Speaker F: Well, then who is he?
[00:11:51] Speaker G: He is the only free man on my farm.
[00:11:59] Speaker E: To be free. The man with the knock knees left the farm and the soldiers behind. He left with his head full of dreams and his heart pounding for the new free life. He left knowing that there were other men enslaved besides himself. Other chains, other whips, other slave owners.
He came into Boston and looked for a job on a whaler.
[00:12:26] Speaker J: Is this skipper Kirkland boat, sir?
[00:12:29] Speaker C: Yeah, but we ain't taking on those stowaways. I'll be off.
[00:12:33] Speaker J: All I want is work, sailor.
[00:12:35] Speaker C: Work on this ship. You Hear that, boys? Tenderfoot wants to work on the toughest ship on the sea.
Get going while the going's good.
Here, here, here, here.
[00:12:49] Speaker H: What's going on?
[00:12:50] Speaker C: What's going on here? This here man comes aboard, sir. Says he wants work.
[00:12:54] Speaker H: Well, has the King passed a law against that?
What do you know about the sea, mister?
[00:13:00] Speaker J: Only what your brother said. That it's free to some.
[00:13:04] Speaker C: Free? He thinks he's never heard of the King's blockade.
[00:13:08] Speaker H: Quiet, man, quiet.
We need a sailor. And if a kin of mine sent him, he must be good.
You know, we're a whaling shipman. Winters are tough. Works hard.
Have you up to it?
[00:13:22] Speaker J: I'll make it.
[00:13:23] Speaker C: See here, skipper. Where'd he come from? He just walked out of nowhere. That's what I'd like to do.
[00:13:27] Speaker H: When did we started asking men where they came from? Did I ask you what prison you escaped from, Tom? Did I ask you why you signed up? Dan, You, Joe? Andy? If the new man can stand the work he's on, I'll ask for no pedigree.
Only the usual question.
[00:13:46] Speaker J: What's that, skipper?
[00:13:47] Speaker H: Your name?
[00:13:49] Speaker J: Crispus Attucks.
[00:13:50] Speaker H: Attucks. On what side do you place your loyalty?
[00:13:55] Speaker J: My loyalty?
[00:13:56] Speaker H: Aye. With the King or with the colonies?
[00:13:59] Speaker J: That depends, sir.
[00:14:00] Speaker H: On what?
[00:14:02] Speaker J: On what side there'll be freedom for me.
[00:14:07] Speaker H: Fair enough, mate. Sign him on.
[00:14:11] Speaker C: You.
[00:14:11] Speaker H: You'll find the townspeople love us and the King's men hate us. We're the clannish crew. If the men like you, thumbs up. If they don't, there'll be the devil to pay. Now you'll be needing an outfit, mate. Fetch Attucks a pair of pants.
[00:14:24] Speaker C: As you say, sir.
[00:14:26] Speaker H: You've had a rough time of it.
[00:14:29] Speaker J: I won't deny it.
[00:14:30] Speaker H: You got those pants, mates?
[00:14:32] Speaker C: Here's some that will fit him, sir.
[00:14:34] Speaker H: Well, we'll just measure and see. First, stand up straight.
[00:14:37] Speaker C: Straight. Attics.
[00:14:39] Speaker H: Hold your legs straight, man, so I can measure you.
[00:14:42] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:14:43] Speaker H: Can't you stand straight?
[00:14:46] Speaker J: I am standing straight, sir.
[00:14:48] Speaker H: No such thing. Are you trying to make a fool of me?
[00:14:50] Speaker C: Why, skipper, no wonder he ain't standing straight. He's got knocked knees.
[00:14:55] Speaker H: Got what?
[00:14:56] Speaker C: Knocked knees. Hey, boys, take a look at these knocked knees.
[00:15:03] Speaker H: Well, bless my soul. He still hands like an ex.
[00:15:06] Speaker A: He does, mate, but look.
[00:15:10] Speaker E: Then the knock kneed man looked down at his own legs and he too began to laugh.
The laugh rolled out across the docks. The laughter rolled out and tied the men together. Laughter rolled out in the grog shops, in the town square, in the streets. It rolled out on the ships during the long, cold nights for 20 years, it rolled while the king made new decrees. It rolled out when the British captain came aboard the whaler and shouted, Stop laughing.
[00:15:40] Speaker A: Stop laughing.
[00:15:42] Speaker F: What are they laughing at?
[00:15:44] Speaker H: My men always laugh when they work together. Captain, There's a strong bond between us.
[00:15:51] Speaker F: There's more than a bond between you. There's rebellion in your brain. I'm here to see that it doesn't spread to other parts. By orders of the king, you and your merry men will remain in dock hereafter.
[00:16:03] Speaker H: But you can't do that, man.
[00:16:05] Speaker F: I can do that and more.
Furthermore, one of your sailors has been seen demonstrating against the king's decrees.
You call him.
[00:16:13] Speaker H: I have 40 sailors.
[00:16:14] Speaker F: You have one negro sailor. Will you call him?
[00:16:17] Speaker H: What do you want with him?
[00:16:18] Speaker F: Call him before me.
[00:16:20] Speaker C: Very well.
[00:16:22] Speaker H: Attucks.
Skipper, Captain Cox wants to see you.
[00:16:29] Speaker F: So you're the one we see with the crowds. And wherever there are agitators against the king.
Tell me, what do they talk about that draws you to them? They talk about freeing themselves from the king, don't they? They talk about revolt.
[00:16:44] Speaker J: Yes, they talk about freedom.
[00:16:45] Speaker F: So you're not afraid to admit it. And what do you do?
[00:16:50] Speaker J: I listen.
I listen and look.
[00:16:54] Speaker F: I believe you do more than listen.
One act and you'll be hanged. Remember that. We'll look for it. It's for you, Skipper. Keep your men in port. You hear that?
[00:17:06] Speaker H: I hear it. But we'll petition the governor against it. Every sailor in Boston will fight this blockade.
[00:17:11] Speaker F: And if the governor doesn't answer you?
[00:17:13] Speaker H: We'll take our case to the king if necessary.
[00:17:16] Speaker F: And if the king doesn't answer, Skipper?
[00:17:18] Speaker H: Perhaps then we'll give our own answer, Captain.
[00:17:30] Speaker E: The knock kneed man went out among the townspeople, listening, looking, searching. And the knock kneed man heard the people saying.
[00:17:39] Speaker A: I say Americans, tell the king to take his thieving troops out of our homes. I say tell the king to take his troops out of our homes. I say no taxation without representation. I say no laws without our consent.
[00:17:57] Speaker C: I say any way to deal with a tyrant is to tear him out of your system.
[00:18:01] Speaker A: Tear him out, I say. Give me liberty or give me death. Give me liberty or give me death. I say Colonists, black and white, are born free, are not slaves to a king.
[00:18:22] Speaker E: The knock kneed man said nothing. The knock kneed man explored the hearts of the colonists. In the house of the skipper, the sailors waited, watched the troops march down the street.
Watch the troops march.
[00:18:39] Speaker C: Look at them come, Skipper.
How many more will they send? They'll keep sending them until we stop them. Till they've beaten us out of our homes. Why do you keep us waiting here.
[00:18:50] Speaker H: To keep you off the gallows?
Because there's nothing else to do but wait until the governor lances us.
[00:18:58] Speaker C: And why doesn't addicts wait with us?
[00:19:00] Speaker H: Alex?
He's an odd one. He is in New York last week in Jamestown, in New Jersey.
Sizing things up, he says. Like he's searching for something. Always searching.
[00:19:17] Speaker C: He can stop his search now. Skipper, the king's men have found us again.
[00:19:22] Speaker H: Open the door. We've done nothing wrong. Open the door to meet.
[00:19:25] Speaker C: I shall, sir.
[00:19:29] Speaker F: Well, skipper, what are your men plotting now?
[00:19:33] Speaker H: What do you want with us? Why can't you let us alone?
[00:19:36] Speaker F: It's you who sent for me, Skipper.
[00:19:38] Speaker H: We sent for you.
[00:19:40] Speaker F: You petitioned the governor to free your ship.
[00:19:42] Speaker H: Of course.
[00:19:43] Speaker F: My men are at the door. Obey my orders. Will you stand, skipper, and receive your answer?
[00:19:49] Speaker H: Of course. But what is it.
[00:19:54] Speaker F: That'S your answer. Now you know what the governor thinks of you and your petitions, of you and your rebel sailors. Rabble like you roam around the streets yelling freedom this, freedom that. Tonight keep your rats in their holes or there'll be a massacre in Boston.
Now do you want to take your petition higher? To the king?
[00:20:14] Speaker H: Na na na. Captain, this time we'll bypass the king.
[00:20:23] Speaker E: The people were out in the cold Boston night. Soldiers slapped at the crowd with swords. In the night, the knock kneed man knocked on the door of the skipper's room.
[00:20:34] Speaker C: Who is it?
It's addicts, skipper. It's addicts.
Where you been, Alex?
[00:20:42] Speaker H: Wait, wait. Give him air. Let him rest now.
Speak up. Attics.
[00:20:51] Speaker J: I've been along the coast.
I've been in shops and on the docks.
Been out in the square with the crowds.
[00:20:58] Speaker H: What are they doing?
[00:21:00] Speaker J: They're trying to find a way to be their own masters.
[00:21:03] Speaker C: With sticks and stones against rifles. It's suicide. There's no way to beat off the soldiers.
[00:21:09] Speaker J: I know a way.
[00:21:10] Speaker H: Yes, yes, Attucks. Well, I like the look in your eyes. Sit here. Pull him a nipple rum, mate.
[00:21:18] Speaker C: Aye, sir.
[00:21:19] Speaker H: Now, Attucks, you know a way?
[00:21:23] Speaker J: Yes.
It's this way.
In New York, I saw the townspeople plant a tree. A dead tree, a flagpole. But they called it that. Liberty tree. It had flags on top of it that said liberty, Freedom.
[00:21:38] Speaker H: Yes, yes, go on.
[00:21:39] Speaker J: They planted it every day. And every day the king's men would cut it down. But they kept planting it.
[00:21:45] Speaker C: And why plant it?
[00:21:46] Speaker J: Why?
So the idea of liberty would grow Strong among the people.
[00:21:50] Speaker C: Is that all you've gotten out of your trips out there in the streets? Our people are being beaten for speaking their minds. Here you sit and talk of planting trees. You talk of trees when we got a rope around our necks.
[00:22:00] Speaker H: Wait, man, wait. Let Alex finish.
You expect us to go out into the square and plant a tree?
[00:22:08] Speaker J: Yes, but a different kind of tree. One no army can cut down.
[00:22:12] Speaker C: What are you talking about?
I'll tell you.
[00:22:19] Speaker J: Once, when I was a slave, I used to dream of freedom at night.
But in the morning, I would wake up still.
Till one day I dreamed I could give my life a freedom.
And when I woke up, I was unafraid. And nothing stood my way. Nothing could stop me from helping others win freedom. I could see that if everyone had freedom, no one would need steal it from another man.
Only then would we all be safe.
That is why I say let's plant a liberty tree here in Boston. Even if. Even if it cost us our lives. And our liberty tree has got to be ourselves. We've got to drive the soldiers from the square.
[00:23:10] Speaker C: You're out of your head. If we attack the troops, they'll shoot us down like rats. Skipper, we can't attack alone.
[00:23:17] Speaker J: We won't be alone. The people in the square will follow.
[00:23:20] Speaker C: That's foolish, Skipper. You say nothing. You're in command here.
[00:23:25] Speaker H: I'm thinking.
I'm thinking. There's sense in what Attic says on me.
[00:23:31] Speaker G: What?
[00:23:32] Speaker H: Yes. To strike a blow at the soldiers would let the people know their own strength. Only.
[00:23:38] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:23:39] Speaker H: We're like the rats who wanted to put the bell on the cat. That bell would awaken everyone in Boston. Maybe every man in the colonies. But who'll lead?
It'll be sure death.
You, mate.
[00:23:55] Speaker C: Me?
[00:23:56] Speaker H: You. Joe.
[00:23:58] Speaker C: Skipper, I don't. Tom. Don't ask anyone. Skipper, let's draw straws for him.
[00:24:04] Speaker H: It's not a job for luck of chance. The man who leads can't waver. He's got to know why he does it and that he'll die doing it.
[00:24:13] Speaker C: How can we be sure of him?
[00:24:15] Speaker H: I say let him who wants most to be free speak up and strike the first blow.
[00:24:26] Speaker J: Skipper, how many men will follow me?
[00:24:40] Speaker E: Ten sailors followed the man with the knocked knees out towards the Boston Square. 200 townspeople followed the sailors while the king in London drove to a banquet in Boston. The captain saw the crowd and the man with the knocked knees and warned the guard.
[00:24:58] Speaker H: Guard. Guard.
[00:25:00] Speaker F: He's coming. Call the platoons together.
[00:25:02] Speaker B: They're ready, sir. Where is he?
[00:25:03] Speaker F: They are Leading the crowd coming this way.
[00:25:06] Speaker B: What should we do, sir?
[00:25:07] Speaker F: Warn them. I'll warn them first.
[00:25:10] Speaker A: Go back to your homes or be shot.
[00:25:13] Speaker B: He just keeps coming toward us, sir. He's waiting on the others.
[00:25:16] Speaker A: Go back or I'll order them into fire.
[00:25:18] Speaker B: He still comes, sir.
[00:25:19] Speaker G: Look.
[00:25:20] Speaker B: He's taking a gun from a guard.
[00:25:21] Speaker A: For the last time. Attics. In the name of His Majesty, your lord and master, I come and tell your king. With our own masters. Tell him. Fire.
You will kill. Tell him. Tell him we have freedmen.
He's down, Captain. He's down.
[00:25:37] Speaker B: But the people still pour over the square.
[00:25:39] Speaker A: Look, he's raising himself. Go on, you who want to be free. Strike. The first blow.
[00:25:50] Speaker E: Slid under the crowd. In his head he heard a cock crow twice. He had bloodhounds voice. He heard sailors laughing. And then he saw the people take the square. The man with the knocked knees had struck the first blow.
And news about the Boston Massacre hit the colonies like lightning had hit the key on old Ben Franklin's kite. Patrick Henry's words brought burned the ears of the king. George Washington left his plantation life in Boston. The people took the body of a black man with knocked knees and the bodies of white men and planted them like seeds. In the same grave in Monticello, Jefferson dreamed of a Declaration of Independence. In Boston, Crispus Attucks and his fellows had already declared it.
In the night, a new snow fell on the ground where he had planted his living tree.
[00:27:05] Speaker A: O freedom O freedom O freedom over.
[00:27:17] Speaker J: Me, me.
[00:27:20] Speaker A: And before I'd be a slave I'd be buried in my grave and go home to my Lord and be free.
[00:27:50] Speaker D: You have just heard the story of Crispus Attucks as presented by Destination Freedom, a special radio series dramatizing the great democratic heritage of the Negro people.
Destination Freedom is brought to you by WMAQ's Department of Public affairs and Education and the Chicago Defender newspaper.
Next week we bring you the story of Harriet Tubman, one of the famed figures of the Underground Railroad.
Destination Freedom is written by Richard Durham and the production is under the direction of Homer Heck.
The role of Christmas Attucks was played by Fred Pinkard, the narrator by Arthur McCoo, the Captain by Donald Gallagher, the Skipper by Jess Pugh, Abigail by Janice Kingslow, the Quaker by Arthur Peterson, the mate by Maurice Copeland, the guard by Charles Mountain, the editor by Marvin Pisner. And the singer was Greg Pasco.
The special music was composed by Richard Shores and played by Elwyn Owen and Bobby Christian.
And this is Hugh Downs inviting you to be with us again next week for the story of Harriet Tubman on Destination Freedom.
This is NBC, the National Broadcasting Company.
