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.