that she has persisted and so will we. >> i know you encourage everyone to learn from it and we encourage everyone to visit here where the statue is always our companion our foil and our muse. thank you for being here tonight. [ applause ] >> all this week we brought you american history tv in prime time. we wrap up this week's coverage now with a look at robert smalls. in 1862, commendeared the planter ship. that action freed himself, his family and 12 other slaves. he went onto become a republican member of the u.s. house.

this is two hours. >> good afternoon. my name is joe divey and it is my pleasure to welcome you to this wonderful celebration of an american hero. i get to do something tonight that pastors seldom get to do. i get to do the first part and then i get to sit down and shut up. our modtraitor is the great great grandson of robert smalls. he is think experienced executive with the strong and dynamic career driving growth and innovation an consumer marketing companies. and marketing management with the general management and leadership skill to offer a blend of management capabilities he has earned a degree from the

maxwell school and from the school of business at duke university and it is my pleasure to present to you mr. michael moore. [ applause ] >> good evening. it has been a wonderful day here in charleston. we started this morning at the charleston museum and there were a couple of very meaningful unveilings on the harbor. and we are capping the evening off with really rich and dynamic panel that i'm excited to introduce to you. i'm going to introduce the panel and then really it is a dialogue. there is a microphone to the left here that i hope you can

see to your right. after the presentations, i'll kick things off with a question or two. but please feel free to come up and you can sit in the pew and relax until it is your turn. but i'm really looking forward to a very nice conversation with everyone. so our first presenter on the left is dr. bernard edward powers junior. he graduated from saint peter minnesota. further studsber s s further studsber s tud s studi served as behavioral sciences soo coordinator from 1977 to 1978. he was employed at northeastern university where he served as

department chair. he has been employed as professor of history teaching courses in united states and african-american history. has he been directory as african-american history and is currently chairman of that department. he has presented nuk rumerous ps and has served as manuscript referee and including the journal of american history, the georgia historical and is the author of black charlestonians which was chosen as one of the outstanding books in 1995.

and was published in the fall of 1996. please join me in welcoming dr. powers. two his right, is doctor steven r wise. dr. wise received his bachelor's degree and masters degree from bowling green state university. he was drawn to the university of south carolina to study under noted civil war historian. dr. wise has written and edited a number of works and currently working on vol umes two and thre of the history of buford county. steven wise has been the featured speaker on various television productions as well as other viecruise liners and h

spoken on the arts and entertainment channel as well as the history and discovery channel and other television productions. he wrote the screen nair rative and the civil war and has received a number of awards and dr. wise will discuss robert small's impact and legacy on the civil war. emphasis will be on the civil war and the navy. please join me in welcoming dr. wise. [ applause ] >> to this right is dr. w. marvin delaney. he is the former executive director of the reserve center

at the center. he teaches american history, african-american history, public history an the history of the american civil-rights movement in uta's graduate programs. he is a graduate of central state university. he earned his master of arts and doctor of philosophy degrees at ohio state university in columbus, ohio. he has published several books including black police in america, essays and born to serve. he is completing a book for texas a & m university press. he also combined the traditional role of the am becomic historian

and documenting and preserving the african-american experience. please join me in welcoming dr. delaney. >> last but not least is elaine nichols. she is the senior cure rater at the smithsonian institute. she is helping to develop an inaugural exhibition that will be included on the culture floor when the museum opens in 2015. it will focus on a dornment relir religion and performing arts. elaine has an ma degree in public service archeology and an ma in social administration and planning from case western

university. please join me in welcoming miss nichols. [ applause ] so we have a wonderful panel and i'm excited to turn it over. go ahead. >> thank you. michael i'm so glad to be here. this evening with my distinguished colleagues and this very auspicious occasion. during the civil war and after the safl war, civil war he was a war hero and would become a political leader with national influence. his life was indeed the stuff of legend. the stories stoled in buford for

example, where he was born. two african-american men were walking down the road and they were discussing great men and what consti tooted great men and who great men were. one man asserted that robert smalls is probably the greatest man on earth. the man that he was talking to said that smalls was certainly great but he wasn't the greatest man on earth and indeed he knew someone greater and the first man asked the question, well, who on earth could prob possibly be greater than robert smalls, the second man then offered jesus christ as the greatest man that ever walked on the earth. the first man was forced to concede. but he reminded man number two that robert smalls was still young. now, i think that we should

become familiar with robert smalls for a variety of different reasons. first, in his life, we can see most of the over arching themes that african american history revolves around. you see slavery, the rise of white supremesy and when smalls dies in 1915, some of the work he did laid the ground work for the second reconstruction. another term used to describe the american civil-rights movement. secondly, smalls life is an american story. a story of triumph over adversity success against the odds and what better place to

talk about american life in charleston smalls second home and a place unique in contribution and the mid wife to those things that would come. this evening i would like to talk about the background to smalls later life. i would like to talk about his experiences in buford. in buford but mainly in charleston as a way of understanding how these environments prepared him for his later achievements in life.

mckey used 60 different people ma mainly in the countryside. they comprise d the labor force at his buford home. domestic service had it's disadvantages for example. domestics were on call around the clock to attend to their owners various needs. that was a downside and a negative. and unlike field hands they had no place to hide. indeed typically they were fed better than the field hands also. domestics were privy to important information that might

prove essential and valuable because of their proximity to their owners and also to the people who came and visited their owners. they were in a privileged position. but mckey was indull gent slave master. he frequently had robert accompany him to his various properties. mckey taught smalls how to ride horses, to swim, how to ride boats to hunt with a gun and other kinds of things. sequele equally significant is the fact that robert allowed him to remain with his mother until he was 12 years old. at that point his life would change but in an unanticipated way.

let me say something about lydia this mother. first, she understand the pl privileges her son enjoyed. but she wanted him to always remember the routine and was kal brutality that character iized e system and experienced by so many other people around them. she had him look at these scenes. and these scenes made a terribly important impression on robert smalls. lydia was indeed exposing him to what we might call the politics

of every day life and exposing him to the relationships that character iced the system of slavery so that he would always keep those images present in the forefront of his mind and understand how blessed and how likely he was. secondly, as i said, his life would change in 1851 because he was sent to work in charleston. now his mother persuaded hun henry mckey suggested this was a way that she was looking out for him. than had he been sent out to work on one of mr. mckey's

plantations. and so this was a transformative experience that shaped his adult fortunes. with an 1850 population of almost 43000, charleston was really the big city. in addition to the atmosphere of the city and life in a major urban area, the other characteristics proved to be equally significant. this city like the state had a black majority. and in 1860, one third of all of the states entire free back population resided in charleston. so the experience of sees large numbers of people who looks like

robert smalls must have heightened his aspirations of freedom. he had a highly developed organization al life. with schools societies and organizations for improvement. now domestic service was an important employment sector in charleston. which ensure d that free blacks and slaves would be employed in free back occupations. free black men were concentrationed in the building trades. in 1888 charleston slaves were involved in at least 88

occupations. they worked as blacksmiths and for the railroad to give you some examples and based on their skills and sometimes their business enterprises, free plaq blacks became property owners. for example, those that owned real estate sometimes rented their homes and apartments to whites. robert smalls new of some add ver sif relationships. the hires system matters hired their slaves out to other people and slaves were sometimes allowed to hire themselves out seeking out and negotiating for wages even though both of these

things were illegal. robert new of this open secret and probably participated in it also. robert smalls had many experiences that were involved with this status as a slave. he belonged to organizations where methods were discussed there were signs all around and all kinds of literary taerls that slaves had access to. and these interactions again

probably further stimulates his passion for late iteracy. there were lack and white people. and others were familiar with stories about the new world slave interaction which gave rise to a new nation controlled by african people. closer to home, small surely knew about plans to create a church in the city and the dire questions of the familiar.

this is where he found his greatest opportunity for employment and education? this was the most cosmo polltatipoll tain part of the city and perhaps interacting with crew members of far away places. smalls would begin as a war hand with load iing and unloading ships. he learned to rig the sales on ships. during this travel smalls showed his own flare for entrepreneurship and secured trade goods from the places he

visited and brought them back to charleston and sold them at a profit. he met hannah annen slaved woman. they married ain 1856 and had an extraordinary arrangement with their owners. the only way they could have afforded this was to hire her time out as a domestic which she did at the mills house. the final and the most surprising turn of events. robert made arrangements to purchase his wife and children from their owner once they have

earned the money. understand what i'm saying here, a slave was making arraignments to purchase other slaves. now, we don't know show this was to be achieved legally. we don't know that. but, hanna's owner agreed to the arrangement and it was a singular arrangement. the fact that robert and hanna were allowed to do these things says much about their aspirations and much about their owners and also about the place where they lived. the civil war began with the firing on sump ter in 1861. and those shots would usher in the next facphases of the biog y

biography. the panel will discuss those faces with you now. i appreciate your attention. [ applause ] >> well moving right along. just amusing before i get into talking about robert smalls and the civil war. very remarkable man. he is going to be able to take advantage of situations. for him, you could say it is a little bit of luck, it happened to fall into the right place. he is going to be able to expand upon his position within the low country within south carolina and eventually within the nation. he is going to be part of at the start of the civil war of a massive workforce that the

confederacy counted onto sustain the new nation the workforce made up of slaves will do everything and in his case pilots of ships. of course the leaders of the confedracy were suspicious of the workforce but could never really trust them. when forces came near, the workforce would disappear. as mentioned, smalls is a remarkable individual. but he again will find himself in a situation with very special people to help him along his way. during this time on the sea islands when we look back and study what is going on, there are other black leaders who you could argue at least for a moment might rival robert

smalls. but smalls will have more flexible and interact with more individuals and will by the end and beel hear about in reconstruction come out as really the leader of the low country and the blacks within south carolina. beginning in the 1820s, charleston is no longer a major port. boston, philadelphia, new york has taken over the over seas trade. charleston is not that great of a harbor. goods, supplies is shipped up to boston, new york, philadelphia

for shipment overseas. it has become more localized and you see more slaves and free blacks being used on the steam ships operating along the coast. it was said that the term pilot was only reserved for whites. the planter will operate along the coast after the firing on fort sumter. she will be found between jacksonville, florida, up to charleston and going up to geor georgetown.

linton off the southern coast to stop the importantation off the coast and the exportations used to buy military goods to europe. trying to stop any training now. the problem was, to have an effective blockade you have to have staemeamed war ships, you e to have places you need