You’re such a lobster…
On the night of March 5, 1770, a crowd of “unruly” Americans taunted British soldiers by brandishing clubs and calling them “lobsters” (red coat, get it?). As the crowd closed in on them, the frightened soldiers opened fire and after the smoke cleared, five colonists lay dead or wounded. As news of the “Boston Massacre” raced through the colonies, Paul Revere engraved the famous, but inaccurate, print that Samuel Adams would use to justify his battle cry for American independence.
If you have seen HBO’s “John Adams” series, you may remember the poignant scenes of John Adams defending the British soldiers in court because he believed that every man in America had a right to a fair trial. When the trial finally ended in December, only two of the eight soldiers were found guilty of manslaughter, and their thumbs were branded with an “M” as punishment.
The Sons of Liberty, a Patriot group founded in 1765 in opposition to the Stamp Act, proclaimed the Boston Massacre to be the first battle for American liberty. Several songs about the Boston Massacre, written by the Sons and Daughters of Liberty, spread quickly through the colonies. To bring this to the classroom, the middle school lesson plan, “American Colonists Protest Song,” by our Teacher Institute alumnist, Andrew Ragan, has students research the events leading up to the Revolutionary War, such as the Boston Massacre, and write their own “protest” song. The example lyrics by Andrew’s students that are included in the lesson plan are fabulous!
Tags: 1770, Boston Massacre, John Adams, lesson plan, March 5, protest song
