Full Transcript for Robert Smalls

Episode 70: Robert Smalls Hi dear listeners! First of all, I need to apologize for missing last week with no episode and no message for all of you! I just missed it; I thought I had recorded a message for the break last week, and I just… didn’t. I hope you are all still with me! Okay, so in honor of Black History Month, I’m excited to tell you about an extraordinary person. Who else in the same life could start as a slave in the 18th century, then commandeer a ship at the age of 23, to bring 17 passengers from slavery to freedom? Then, serve in the Civil War and be promoted to captain for their bravery and leadership? And they were not done- served in their state assembly, state Senate, then 5 terms in the US House of Representatives. This extraordinary, and not well-known Black historical figure, is former US Representative Robert Smalls. Ready to learn more? I definitely was; let’s get started. My favorite Robert Smalls quote is such: “My race needs no special defense for the past history of them and this country. It proves them to be equal of any people anywhere. All they need is an equal chance in the battle of life.” Background: -Born in April of 1839 in Beaufort, North Carolina -His mother, Lydia, served in the slaveowner’s house -Although his father’s identity is not known, it was most likely one of the white plantation owners -Because of this, Robert was treated better than most of the other slaves who lived there -Robert’s mother was worried that Robert did not understand the horrors of the lives of the other slaves, so she sent him to work in the fields and see those atrocities -This may have worked too well; Robert was constantly defying authority and was in and out of the Beaufort jail -Lydia was able to arrange for Robert to start working in Charleston, where he was able to keep a small part of his wages, and more importantly learned all about Charleston Harbor -Eventually he ended up working as a longshoreman, rigger, sail maker and eventually a wheelman or helmsman, although he was not given that title; this knowledge would prove invaluable Freedom sail: -In May of 1862, Smalls told his spouse Hannah to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice with their children; he had a plan -Smalls had been assigned to steer the CSS Planter, a Confederate military transport, in the fall of 1861; on that fateful night of escape, the Planter was in its usual dock at Charleston Harbor, and the white officers disembarked for the night as normal -Smalls asked for and received permission to allow the crews’ families to visit; when the families arrived, Smalls and most of the crew that were in on the plan revealed what they were about to do to their families -By wearing a Captain’s uniform and hat, Smalls was able to steer the ship out of harbor without incident; he knew the correct signals to give at Confederate checkpoints -The most dangerous crossing was past Fort Sumter; it was heavily armed and security was tight -Despite the warnings from his crew and the families on board, Smalls coolly sailed along the normal path, in range of the cannons, slowly as if in no particular hurry; when the fort flashed their signals, Smalls flashed back; after a long pause in which Smalls thought they would certainly be attacked, they were given the all-clear -As soon as the Planter was clear of the cannons, Smalls headed straight for the Union Navy fleet, which raised the alarm at Fort Sumter but too late for them to do anything about it -The white flag Smalls waved at the Union Navy fleet was almost not seen, except that the sun came out at that moment and they were taken in by the Navy fleet After the rescue using the CSS Planter: -The ship that Smalls delivered to the Navy gave them needed intelligence; Smalls’ vast knowledge of the harbor itself was also of great use to the North efforts -The Navy report of this event states the party’s brave actions as such: “Fearful was the venture, but it was made.” -The Navy was also very impressed with Smalls’ bravery and intelligence -Smalls was able to lobby the Secretary of War under President Abe Lincoln to allow Black men to serve as soldiers for the Union; after Lincoln agreed, Smalls recruited many Black soldiers and was promoted to the rank of Captain After the Civil War: -Smalls returned to Beaufort, and purchased the house where he and his mother had lived and worked as slaves -The former owners, the McKee family, sued to get the property back but lost in court and the house remained with the Smalls family -Even after this lawsuit, Robert and his mother Lydia allowed Jane McKee, then a widow, to move back into the house when her health was failing prior to her death -Robert invested in the business development of the Charleston-Beaufort region, including forming a railway line, the Enterprise Railroad, with the first entirely Black board of directors; and a newspaper, the Beaufort Southern Standard Political career: -Smalls became a delegate at the 1868 South Carolina Constitutional Convention, where he joined in the effort to make free and compulsory schooling available to all children in the state -In 1868, Smalls was elected to the SC House of Representatives and introduced many bills that he then worked to pass; he was then elected to fill another state representative’s time in the Senate -In 1873 he was appointed to high-ranking military positions in SC, until 1877 when Democrats took control of the state government -Remember, it was the Republican party that Lincoln belonged to that fought the Civil War on the side of ending slavery; the Democratic party at that time were against it -In 1874, Robert Smalls was elected to the US House of Representatives; for almost the next 20 years, he served in non-consecutive terms in the US House; his terms were affected by district gerrymandering and what are believed to be false accusations of taking bribes -Robert Smalls’ terms in office: 44th (1875–1877), 45th (1877–1879), 47th (1881–1883), 48th (1883–1885), 49th (1885–1887) -Smalls continued to advocate for civil rights for the rest of his life Family: -Robert Smalls had three children with his first wife Hannah, who was with him on the CSS Planter for the fateful escape -Hannah had worked as a hotel maid when they met in Charleston -His children were Elizabeth, Robert, who died at the age of two; and Sarah -Hannah had two daughters before she met Robert, Charlotte and Clara -After Hannah died, Robert married Annie Wigg, a Charletson schoolteacher, and they had one son, William -Robert survived both of his spouses, and died of malaria and diabetes in 1915 -Fort Robert Smalls and many other monuments exist in the United States to honor this incredible figure Thanks for listening to Determine Our Future. See my transcript for all of the research I used in the making of this episode. Music credits are as follows: gravitationalWaves, departures, seachange, reCreation, urbanblues, blackSnow, forgottenland and nightWalk are all by airtone; aether theories is by Vidian; Perfect Circle is by ScOmBer; and Isolation Swing is by Admiral Bob. See the full credits in the transcripts of each episode. Make sure to follow the podcast on your app, so new eps are always available to you, whenever you are ready to listen. Talk to you again next week. Quick link to leave a review: https://lovethepodcast.com/lzH7aB https://determineourfuture.com/ https://www.facebook.com/lparkerpierce @LParkerPierce #determineourfuture https://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/which-slave-sailed-himself-to-freedom/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Smalls https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/21764 https://www.nps.gov/people/robert-smalls.htm https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/robert-smalls Photo by Wikimedia Commons Music credits: blackSnow by airtone (c) copyright 2021 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/airtone/63513 forgottenland by airtone (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/airtone/61959 nightWalk by airtone (c) copyright 2017 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/airtone/56520 Isolation Swing by Admiral Bob (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/admiralbob77/61465 Ft: SmoJos Perfect Circle by ScOmBer (c) copyright 2010 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial  (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/scomber/28519 Ft: Sassygal, Rach, Scomberina and Unrealdm