Biography of robert smalls
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SMALLS, Robert
A Civil War hero who had led a dramatic escape from slavery in , Robert Smalls served part of fem terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from a district along South Carolina’s seaboard. Smalls often endured violent elections to represent his staunchly Republican, majority-Black district. On Capitol Hill, he fought to authorize and fund internal improvements for coastal South Carolina and was an advocate for his Black constituents in the face of Democratic disenfranchisement efforts. “My race needs no special defense, for the past history of them in this country proves them to be lika of any people anywhere,” Smalls asserted in “All they need is an equal chance in the battle of life.”1
Robert Smalls was born enslaved on April 5, , in Beaufort, South Carolina. His mother, Lydia Polite, was enslaved and worked in the house of her and her son’s enslaver, John McKee. The identity of his father fryst vatten not known, though it may have been John McKee. Smalls worked in t
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The Remarkable Life of Robert Smalls
In the early morning of May 13, , several enslaved crewmembers of the Confederate steamer CSS Planter boarded the vessel along with their families. Taking advantage of the fact that their white officers had left the ship against regulations, they successfully maneuvered the ship through the Charleston harbor, past Confederate fortifications, and to the Union fleet blockading the city.
The architect of this daring escape to freedom was Robert Smalls, whose leadership and courage would go on to make him important to the Union war effort and, afterwards, one of the most influential Black political leaders of the 19th century.
Smalls was born enslaved in Beaufort, South Carolina at Prince Street in His mother was enslaved and worked in the home of John K. McKee, caring for his children. It is very likely that Smalls’ father was white. As he grew, his owners hired him out as a laborer and sailor, which eventually led to his employment as a de
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Robert Smalls was born in , enslaved by a local planter in Beaufort, South Carolina. By the time he was 23 years old, Smalls had won freedom for himself and his family, and was a famous war hero. He became a prominent leader in the community during the Reconstruction era, including service in both the state and national legislature. His story illustrates the transformative potential of Reconstruction throughout the southern United States.
Growing Up In the Lowcountry
Smalls was the son of Lydia Polite, and lived in a small slave cabin behind the home of Henry McKee at Prince Street in Beaufort, South Carolina. McKee enslaved both Smalls and his mother, who served in the house in Beaufort. When Smalls was 12 years old, McKee sent him to Charleston to be hired out. He worked as a waiter in a hotel before eventually hiring out in the city’s docks. There, he met an enslaved woman, Hannah Jones, and they were married around As enslaved people, their marriage was not legally recognized