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History remembers the Boston Massacre in March 1770 as thefirst fight in the buildup to the American Revolution. Five died thatday, including Crispus Attucks, said to be an offspring of an Africanman and a Nantucket Indian mother. Attucks and four others killedthat night became martyrs. York’s Crispus Attucks Association isnamed after the man who became a hero as ‘the first to defy, the

first to die’ on America’s road to freedom.

making historyby james mcclure and ted sickler

CelebratingCrispus Attucks75 years • 1931-2006

did you know?Before the Crispus Attucks

Center was formed, twostruggling agencies servedthe needs of York’s growingblack community. In 1930,

York’s Welfare Federation, aforerunner to the United Way,

called in New Yorker Dr.Ernest T. Attwell to bring TheCommunity House and the

Emergency Girls Clubtogether.

in his own words‘For 40 years I struggled against separate schools, formore learning opportunities for Negroes of all ages.

There were disappointments and victories.’The Rev. Thomas E. Montouth,1968

a history lessonThe call of jobs during the years of pre-Depressionindustrial growth drew thousands of black people

northward. Many stopped in York, the first factory-ladencity on the railroad, north of the Mason-Dixon Line.

The Rev. Thomas E.Montouth Sr.’s FaithPresbyterian Churchsponsored The CommunityHouse, a forerunner of the

Crispus Attucks Center.

For complete series, see w2.ydr.com/news/blackhistory. Photo and story credits: Crispus AttucksAssociation;York County Heritage Trust; James McClure: “Never to be Forgotten,” “Almost Forgotten.”