Did this depiction of the 1770 Boston Massacre fuel the fury against British rule in the US? On 5 March 1770, a teenager throwing snow at a British sentry sparked a clash between British soldiers and Boston residents. The British opened fire on crowds throwing oyster shells, coal and hunks of ice at them, leaving three men dead and two mortally wounded. Three weeks after the massacre, a copperplate engraving made by the prominent silversmith Paul Revere appeared for sale in Boston newspapers. Its gory depiction of felled patriots streaming with blood being fired on by a line of smirking soldiers served to stoke anti-British sentiment and fan the flames of the rebellion. "Revere's rendering of the Boston Massacre was a powerful piece of propaganda, especially in a world where literacy rates ranged across regions and populations," said Mary Draper, professor of History at Midwestern State University. Tap the link in BBCNews's bio to read more about how print media influenced ...