A Memorial of Crispus Attucks, Samuel Maverick, James Caldwell, Samuel Gray, and Patrick Carr from the City of Boston Frontispiece

The Boston City Council published this account of the legislative approval process for the monument to Crispus Attucks and the other victims of the Boston Massacre as well as the proceedings at the dedication of the Monument on November 14, 1888. Boston's black community, led by William Cooper Nell, had advocated for a permanent monument to Crispus Attucks as early as 1851, but it was not until 1887-1888, after repeated petitions, that the legislature approved the request and moved forward with the project. The petition's signers and monument organizing committee included veterans of the abolitionist movement such as Lewis Hayden, John J. Smith, and Henry Bowditch. A letter of support for the monument from Frederick Douglass is also included.