Missing From History: Robert Smalls
There’s a lot of history missing from textbooks. The first time I read Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen, I remember being furious. There was so much I didn’t know.
Each week, on Sunday, I challenge myself to learn something I didn’t know. Actually, I try to do that every day but I make a concerted effort on Sundays to seek out something that might have escaped my own education. Today, I’m learning about Robert Smalls.
Smalls was born, as an enslaved African American, on a plantation in South Carolina. He escaped to freedom on a Confederate supply ship and, after the war, became a successful businessman and politician serving in both houses of the South Carolina legislature.
We need a movie about this man but, for now, this short film created by Cracked will have to do. (Or not. Hey Ava Duverney. This would be a fantastic project. I know you’re busy. Hand it over to another Black filmmaker if you have to.) If you’re so inclined, Cracked has an article that might interest you as well: The 5 Most Badass Ways People Escaped from Slavery.
You can read more about Robert Smalls here and here and here.
