A bipartisan effort is underway in the South Carolina legislature to add a statue on the Statehouse grounds to commemorate a black South Carolinian Civil War hero and lawmaker Robert Smalls. If you don't know the story of Robert Smalls, you really should. There is a great book on his story, "Be Free or Die: The Amazing Story of Robert Smalls' Escape from Slavery to Union Hero" by Cate Lineberry. It really should be made into a Hollywood movie in my opinion. I'll give you the cliff notes.
Born in 1839 into slavery in Beaufort, S.C., Smalls, as a young teenager and at the request of his mother, was sent by his master to Charleston were he eventually worked on the docks and then as a crewmember on ships eventually working his way up to become a wheelman, or Helmsman, although enslaved people were not permitted the title. As a result, he became very knowledgeable of the waters in and around Charleston Harbor.
In the spring of 1862, during the Civil War, 23-year-old Smalls was working as an enslaved pilot in the Charleston Harbor aboard a Confederate steamer named "The Planter." The ships three officers left the seven slave crewmen of the ship unattended as they spent time with their families. Smalls recognized the opportunity presented and acted on it.
First, he had to convince the crew members of the plan to escape out of the heavily guarded harbor. It would be risky and dangerous and if caught, more than likely, it would be their death. Small's charisma, confidence, and prospect of liberty won out and the plan was sent into motion.
Next Smalls had to convince his wife Hannah who asked, "What will happen if we are caught?"
"I shall be shot," Smalls replied. Adding that Hannah and the children would possibly be punished and separated.
Without hesitation Hannah answered, "I will go. For where you die, I will die."
In the early predawn hours, Smalls raises the Confederate and South Carolina flags and sets sail on the Planter. Smalls disguises himself as the captain wearing his hat and using the hand signals and whistle calls he learned as a slave on the ship.
It works. Once out of the harbor and past Fort Sumter, Smalls finds a blockade of Union ships, as they draw near, the crew takes down the confederate flag and hoists a white bed sheet and turns the ship and guns over to the Union.
The daring escape made Smalls an instant hero in the North. Smalls becomes a military advisor to the Union until the end of the war and convinces President Abraham Lincoln to allow former slaves into the war effort. Smalls also became the first African American to command a naval vessel.
After the war, Smalls returned to South Carolina and bought his former master's mansion at a tax sale. He founded the South Carolina Republican Party and in 1868 runs for the S.C. House and wins. He writes legislation to create the first free compulsory, statewide, public school system in South Carolina and America.
He later overcame a campaign of violent suppression and fear tactics from white Democrats to prove fraud and claim the U.S. Congress S.C. District 5 seat.
It's hard to imagine the strength, courage to take action and change the world in those times. I can't think of anyone or any story more deserving to a memorial statue on the State House grounds than Robert Smalls.
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