The Boston Massacre (1770) was one of the most iconic events of the pre-Revolutionary period. It has a cool name, and an instantly recognizable image, The Bloody Massacre.

Of course, it’s also a signature piece of propaganda created by Paul Revere, a member of the radical, and occassionally violent, protest group, the Sons of Liberty.

As a warm up, I asked students to pretend that they were American colonists living outside of Boston during 1770, and they were given a copy of The Bloody Massacre, but had no other knowledge of the event. What did they see? What did they think happened?

The dog…the first thing they point out will be the dog. Count on it.

British troops are shooting people.

The soldiers look organized.

The soldiers look mean, some of them look like they are laughing.

The officer is standing behind his men and just gave the order to fire.

The soldiers are very close to the crowd.

The crowd looks scared.

The crowd doesn’t have any weapons.

Some people in the crowd are dead or hurt.

One person in the crowd looks like he’s asking the soldiers to stop.

It happened in the middle of a city.

It looks the crowd is only a little bit bigger than the group of soldiers.

 

I didn’t provide any additional context, but simply asked students to record their observations on this T-chart.

Then, we watched this clip from the John Adams HBO mini-series. FYI, this clip is OK, but I highly recommend just purchasing the full episode from Amazon Instant Video, because it sets up the events of the Massacre perfectly.

 

Then students worked with partners to discuss the evidence that was revealed during the trial (for the other side of their T-chart).

There were only a few soldiers.

The crowd was about 200 people.

The British officer was in front of his men, not behind his men.

The crowd threw snowballs, oyster shells and garbage at the soldiers.

The crowd was carrying clubs…they may have thrown their clubs at the soldiers.

 The crowd was very loud and screamed at the soldiers.

Some people in crowd were shouting at the soldiers to “Fire!”

The first shot was fired accidentally.

 

Finally, we reconsidered the engraving of The Bloody Massacre.

How could we change it so that it was more accurate, based on the trial testimony?

Why do you think Paul Revere left out or changed some of the facts? What story was he trying to tell? Who was his audience?

Do you agree or disagree with what Paul Revere did? Why?

If you were living in Britain, how would you feel about The Bloody Massacre?

What do you think might have been different if the soldiers had been convicted of murder?

 

Comments and feedback welcome!