Robert Smalls - Tabernacle Baptist Church - Beaufort, SC
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 32° 25.914 W 080° 40.352
17S E 530785 N 3588357
African-American during slave era who went from slave to US Congressman. Robert Smalls, an ex-slave who became the most famous black man in South Carolina for 5 decades.
Waymark Code: WMJARV
Location: South Carolina, United States
Date Posted: 10/21/2013
Views: 5
County of Memorial: Beaufort County
Location of Memorial: 907 Craven St., Beaufort, SC
Sculptor: Marion Talmage Ethredge
Quote on Statue: "My race needs no special defense, for the past history of them in this country proves them equal of any people anywhere. All they need is an equal chance in the battle of life"
Robert Smalls - Nov. 1, 1895
Event prompting the quote: Smalls was active politically into the twentieth century. He was a delegate to the 1895 constitutional convention, and, together with five other black politicians, strongly opposed white Democrat efforts to disfranchise black citizens. They wrote an article for the New York World to publicize the issues, but the constitution was ratified. It and similar constitutions passed court challenges of the time.
SC Historical Marker Text:
ROBERT SMALLS
Born a slave in 1839, Robert Smalls lived to serve as a congressman of the United States. In 1862 he commandeered and delivered to Union forces the Confederate gunboat Planter, on which he was a crewman. His career as a freedman included service as a delegate to the 1868 and 1895 State Constitutional Conventions, election to the SC House and Senate and nine years in Congress. He died in 1915 and is buried here.
Robert Smalls history is long and distinguished and in many fields.
Here are some links because the reading can be long
Charleston History Wikipedia Naval Hero Navy Honors Smalls