Robert Smalls will soon become the first African American to be honored with an individual statue in South Carolina. Smalls is best known for his daring escape during the Civil War, where he disguised himself in Confederate clothing, stole a slaveholder’s ship, and sailed his family and a dozen others to freedom.
After the war, Smalls served for a decade in the U.S. House of Representatives and played a crucial role in rewriting South Carolina’s constitution to ensure equality for Black men. He also mounted a courageous but ultimately unsuccessful fight against the re-establishment of white supremacist rule in the state.
Rep. Jermaine Johnson expressed his excitement about the upcoming statue, saying, “I can’t wait to bring my children to the Statehouse to finally see someone who looks like them being honored. The man has done so many great things, and it’s a travesty he hasn’t been recognized until now. Heck, it’s also a travesty there isn’t a big Hollywood movie about his life.”
The idea for a Smalls statue had faced quiet resistance for years but gained unanimous approval in 2024, led by Republican Rep. Brandon Cox of Goose Creek. Cox remarked, “South Carolina has a lot of history—both good and bad. This is one of the good parts.”
A special committee has been tasked with finalizing the statue’s design, location on the Statehouse lawn, and funding by January 15. The tribute could honor Smalls as the fearless pilot who navigated Confederate checkpoints or as the statesman who served in the South Carolina legislature and U.S. Congress. Smalls even purchased his former master’s house in Beaufort, using some of the reward money for turning over the Confederate ship to the Union. When his former master’s widow fell into poverty, Smalls allowed her to live in the house.
Another chapter of Smalls’ legacy involves his tireless advocacy for education and the rights of African Americans. He witnessed many of these hard-fought gains stripped away when the 1895 state constitution disenfranchised Black voters. In 1913, Smalls was fired from his federal customs collector role during President Woodrow Wilson’s purge of Black men from government jobs.
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Rep. Chip Campsen, a fellow ship pilot, reflected on Smalls’ life, saying, “The best way to sum up Robert Smalls’ life is it was a fight for freedom—as a slave, as a pilot, and as a statesman.”
The location of the statue is another significant decision. While South Carolina has a monument dedicated to African Americans’ journey from slavery to modern times, there is no individual monument for a Black person. Many of the existing monuments honor Confederate leaders or figures like “Pitchfork” Ben Tillman, a former governor and U.S. senator who led white mobs to suppress Black voters in 1876. Some supporters have suggested that Smalls’ statue should be larger and more prominent than Tillman’s to symbolize Smalls’ triumph.
Once the design and location are chosen, fundraising efforts will follow. Republican Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey emphasized the importance of telling Smalls’ story accurately: “This is going to tell a story, and it’s important we tell it the right way to honor him and South Carolina.”
Born in Beaufort in 1839, Smalls died in 1915, having lived an extraordinary life that supporters are now determined to ensure will never be forgotten. Chris Barr, Chief of Interpretation for the Reconstruction Era National Historic Park in Beaufort, stood by a bust of Smalls and said, “Robert Smalls wrote a new future for this country that no one could see coming in the moment.”
Barr noted that Smalls’ escape aboard the Confederate ship remains the most captivating part of his life. “If you’re an enslaved person working on one of these boats around Charleston Harbor like Robert Smalls, you’ve got the tools, the talent, and the boat. And you can literally see freedom in the form of the U.S. Navy just a few miles offshore. All you need is the opportunity.”
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