Robert Smalls

Robert Smalls first made history by escaping slavery by pretending to be a white ship’s captain, and sailing a boat to freedom during the American Civil War. Smalls was born April 5, 1839 to his white slave owner father, Henry McKee, and his mother Lydia Polite, a slave McKee owned who was also a member […]

Let their courage not go unknown.

BEAUFORT, S.C. (AP) — Alumni of a school named for a slave who later became a South Carolina congressman say the school’s logo is offensive. The school is named after Robert Smalls, a slave who escaped and later captured a Confederate ship during the Civil War. He went on to serve five terms in Congress. […]

The efforts of Robert Smalls, an enslaved Black man who became a ship’s captain during the American Civil War and later a politician, were recognized by the U.S. Army a decade ago. Smalls and a crew of fellow slaves took over a Confederate ship, where he sailed to freedom by surrendering to Union Army forces […]