The Equal of Any People Anywhere

Robert Smalls, a slave pilot, led a daring escape during the Civil War. While the captain of the ship was ashore, Smalls quietly piloted the Confederate steamer Planter from Charleston, South Carolina, to the safety of the Union fleet outside Ft. Sumter. The crew and passengers consisted of 16 people, seven of whom were women and children. Once beyond Confederate waters, Smalls raised a white bed sheet as a flag of truce. In addition to the ship, cargo and passengers, Smalls brought word that the Confederates had abandoned their position on the Stono River in South Carolina. Upon turning her over to the Union, Smalls said, "I thought the Planter might be of some use to Uncle Abe." Smalls and his crew received the customary prize money for the captured ship. He was made the pilot of the ship until 1866.

Back in March of this year I had the chance to visit the National Museum of the United States Navy at the Washington Navy Yard (where The Nuke works). I chronicled that visit over a couple of posts but the first was here.

It was a really quick visit while we waited for The Nuke to return from her office (we had just flown in from Little Rhody and she had to stop by her workplace to do something for the admiral). I took a metric crap ton of photos with my cell phone (pretty much running the battery down to naught) but came away with a number of stories. This is one.

This story started over at Bayou Renaissance Man with this post of his. The story sounded familiar, the face on the cover of the book looked familiar, so out came the cell phone and after scrolling through all those photos, there he was, Robert Smalls. The opening photo is a detail from one of the photos I took at the Navy Museum, the text below is a copy of the text under the photo in the museum. (It wasn't all that legible in the photo.)

Mr. Smalls had quite a career. He represented South Carolina in Congress (as a Republican) for a spell and one quote attributed to him seems particularly apt to me in these somewhat trouble modern times...

"My race needs no special defense, for the past history of them in this country proves them to be the equal of any people anywhere. All they need is an equal chance in the battle of life." Representative Robert Smalls said. (Source)

He's absolutely correct.

For as long as this country has existed, people of all races, creeds, and religions have contributed to make these here United States a beacon of hope to the world. If we go down into the darkness, that's it, game over man.

We need to move beyond such petty considerations. We are Americans, we should be setting the example to the rest of the world that a representative, Constitutional Republic such as ours works, and works well. Sure there are bumps in the road, nothing worth having is easy.

Mr. Smalls seized his freedom, he stood up for what he believed in. He made a difference.

There are those who insist on seeing our differences, and setting one group above another, I hate that.

We are, One Nation, Under God, Indivisible...

Now let's make that liberty and justice for ALL part a reality.

Or we shall have no peace.




You can read more about Robert Smalls here and read about the author of the book Peter mentioned in his post here.