Crispus Attucks Day is first celebrated.

The event includes a parade, a rally with speeches by William Cooper Nell and John Swett Rock at Faneuil Hall. In his speech Rock declares, “I would have you understand, that not only do I love my race, but am pleased with my color, and while many colored persons may feel degraded by being called Negroes, and wish to be classed among other races more favored, I shall feel it my duty, my pleasure and my pride, to concentrate my feeble efforts in elevating to a fair position a race to which I am especially identified by feelings and by blood.” Speakers also include William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, and Charles Lenox Remond. The event is held annually until 1870.*