the entire community extended to the happy couple their warmest congratulations, end of quote. the life and accomplishments of robert smalls will be featured in two of the history galleries and in different exhibition formats. one will be slavery and freedom, and the other will be the period that examines the era of segregation that followed reconstruction. the museum has acquired a number of pieces of furniture, as you heard mr. moore mention previously from the smalls family that was part of the home on prince street. the furniture dates from the mid 1850s to the late 1880s. the furniture belonged to and was used by smalls and his family. smalls' home was a show place where he observed the world and the world observed him.

it represented the height of his career and was and is an appropriate material example for illustrating the life of an important political and a community leader in buford, south carolina, during the late 19th century. the furniture reflects his success as a political leader and his success as a well to do homeowner. even by today's standards, the home and its furnishings would be considered impressive and part of a grand way of life. visitors to the museum will have an opportunity to examine the challenges that the nation faced during reconstruction as it grappled with a major shift in the political, economical, social, and demographical structure that had formally defined african-americans as little more than beasts of

burdens. the exhibitions will tell many stories, stories of how formally enslaved african-americans transitioned to freedom, and stories of how a significant number of african-americans such as robert smalls assumed important leadership roles as they created an infrastructure for supporting the family, community, church, educational institutions, businesses, and civic and social organizations. while the furniture will represent the life that he created for himself and his family in post slavery buford, south carolina, he will also be featured in a media production, which tells a larger story of the early period of reconstruction and the important role that he played in shaping and influencing the politics in south carolina and the nation. there are plans to also include him in the second exhibition

called defending freedom, defining freedom. era of segregation, 1876 to 1968. and there the furniture will be used to cap their the story of smalls and broadly african-americans as they transition from a period of great triumph and success during reconstruction to a period of codified disenfranchisement, segregation, humiliation, and sometimes violence. the many stories that we will tell at this museum are stories about people like robert smalls who are part and parcel of american history. the national museum of african-american history and culture will be a place where all can discover, recover, and appreciate that centrality. i hope that you will join us when the museum opens in 2015. [ applause ]

>> thank you very much. let's please just give another warm round of applause to our panelists. [ applause ] i'd like to shift a little bit to the second half or so of the program. i'd like to start off with some questions, but i really encourage and hope that we can generate some real activity and energy from you all as well. and as i mentioned, for anyone who has a question, just please find your way up to the front here, and we'll get right to you. i would also remind the panelists about the microphones. and as we can keep those close to us. for me, hearing this kind of -- these kinds of stories, these kind of talks are really fascinating and illuminating in so many different levels. you know, i'm very intimate with the story as robert's great, great grandson. i've heard about it from my

mother, grandmother, aunts and uncles, and i feel a real personal connection to it. but it's always really almost amazing to me to learn about my great, great grandfather from folks who have spent their professional lives studying about him. so it's always a great experience for me. i'd like to ask the panel one of the consistent questions that i get every time that i get up and talk about robert smalls is if robert smalls, he did all these wonderful things, these amazing things in so many areas and aspects of his life, why is his stature in the country, even though over the last ten years it's certainly grown, but why is he relatively unknown? i mean, if you think about all that he did, i would stack his life and career up against plenty of folks throughout american history. paul revere, many folks. why do you think that robert's

stature is relatively muted in sort of the pantheon of american history? >> i'd answer the question by, again, referring to the negative interpretation or the negative historiography related to reconstruction. again, dubois and others after him pointed out all of the things and all the accomplishments of things like robert smalls from 1865 to 1877 and thereafter. but when the democrats retook the south, they literally tried to wipe out all of the history that had taken place, wipe out the stories about people like robert smalls and create these myths. see mr. moirdock in the audience

how south carolina had rewritten history to write black people out in particular and people who challenge the system like robert smalls out of it. so we're recovering it. we're reclaiming it. we're reclaiming it now. but we're picking it up after i would say a good almost 100 years where, you know, it was literally wiped out of the history books. >> i would also add that in the case of smalls and people like robert smalls, really, this first generation of african-american political leadership, i think one of the basic assumptions that many people have made in america is that their interests have only been in promoting the interests of people that look like them. and that's absolutely incorrect. robert smalls and members of

this first generation of black political leadership were interested in promoting the economy, the economic development of south carolina and other places where they serve, interested in, you know, promoting public education for everyone, civil rights legislation that would benefit everyone. but there has been this attempt to kind of narrowly portray them when they've not been portrayed as being inept and corrupt and so on, then pigeon holed them as merely being quote/unquote representatives of a black people. and that's just absolutely incorrect. it's been a way of marginalizing them, i think. >> and just a little comment on that. you could look at smalls as being localized, staying in south carolina, staying in the low country where if you look at frederick douglass, the speaking tours, the going to europe, the great amount of literature he wrote versus what smalls really

didn't produce much writing at all. i think you see that smalls keeps himself very much in to the local area. and as dr. dulaney said, then when south carolina is redeemed, you begin to lose your knowledge of robert smalls. >> i agree with my colleagues, but i want to take a different perspective and say that i think that robert smalls is the name at least is well recognized by young people. they might not know of all of his accomplishments, but they would recognize the name very much as they would recognize the name of harriet tubman. so i think that in many ways he had been recognized. again, they might not know all the details associated with him. >> to come on up to the side here.

>> i would like to add a very small part and attempt to add to your question. >> please. >> one of the unfortunate problems in terms of history is that we don't have visual identification of us as a people in most cases. so in our school systems, there are no visual imagery of the great robert smalls. and if you don't have visual imagery in your schools and in your churches, then our children, the generations of children are just not going to be familiar with the facial imagery. now we speak about the literal nature of robert smalls. and indeed, he did not write much. but when you look at your church bibles, one of the most interesting aspects of a church bible, it certainly was when i was a child, was the paintings in the bible that illustrated the stories.

so if you don't have visual imagery of african-americans also in the case of our arts, the lacking in terms of supporting visual artists, if the stories are not told and the stories are not supported, ie collects, and placed in institutions where our youth have an opportunity to visually connect with them, then many of these people will be forgotten. one of the most illustrious period in our recent history is that of the wpa period when under the auspices of president roosevelt and mrs. roosevelt, it was perhaps the largest point in time in america where images of african-americans were displayed throughout the country. after the closing of the wpa period, most of that work was

ordered destroyed because they did not want it on the open air market. but unfortunately, in the destruction of the work, we know whom the works were destroyed, and that was certainly mostly of african-american people and women. thank you. >> thank you. i'd also -- he didn't introduce himself, but this is jonathan green who is a wonderful, wonderful artist and specializes in art in the low country here. thank you for that. i'm going to get you in just one second. i want to speed through just a couple of quick questions. and if you all could speed your answers along with me, that would be great. dr. powers, you talked about some unusual kinds of things about robert smalls' life, the fact that he and his wife lived in an apartment, that he was negotiating her purchase as it was. it seemed like if you think broadly about robert's life, that there were a number of instances where sort of lightning was striking.

the relationship that he had with his master, the relationship that he was able to have with his mother, the fact that he was able to live kind of on his own, you know, in charleston, the fact that he was able to pull off this vision to commandeer the planter. a number of kinds of things. are there any thoughts about why and how he -- i mean he was able to come about these sort of unusual kinds of things that certainly supported and aid him in his achievements? >> well, i guess you would have to say either a charmed life or probably a blessed life. he was -- he was certainly raised to be a religious young man. and in so far as i know, continued to be very religious in his life. so i think were he to explain it himself, he would say that the

hand of god was upon him, directing his fortunes and opening up really a way for him to prosper, to achieve, to become self-actualized, but also robert smalls as we all know was a man of great vision, of great vision. and he understood that the direction that his life was moving in was charting a course for a whole people. and he had to have seen himself as a man of destiny, not in an egotistical way, because i don't have that image of him at all, but as a person who through sharing his experiences, sharing his achievements are working toward his own

self-actualization and benefitting his family, he saw himself as kind of setting an example. you know, the kind of example that we say that we need so much more of today, he was that example. and he understood himself acting in that way. and i think he would probably also say that just kind of based on the life that he was leading, he continued to be blessed. >> sir, do you have a question? >> good evening. my name is irving ford. and i commend you for -- name is irving ford, and i would like to commend you for your comments. i'd like to make a brief comment and pose this question. the common denominator in the theme is errors of inclusion. if you think about -- if you

think about these -- if you think about these national, international incidents, the trayvon martin situation, the situation in the arab uprising like syria and libya, you have an american politician who talk about we're a nation of laws and want to lecture other countries about democracy. then you have a situation with the latino community passing laws in the state of arizona, other southern states following arizona's leadership. and americans are oblivious, ignorant to know that, like, in south carolina we have badges to stifle the freedmen. my question directed to you,

history is your passion. most americans, they might be fix excavated on nba finals. this year i tutored young african-american boys, basic literacy, mathematic skills. so regardless of gender or ethnicity, what you do is extremely important to the contribution of the united states of america. you're our community leaders. we need you on this national platform of c-span to speak to our countrymen the value of history. and i would just end by saying this. ten years ago, i was working in north adams, massachusetts. i had an apartment in east greenbush, new york. commuting to work, i stopped at a grocery store. and at the checkout, there was

this laminated one-pager on american history. 1822, slave revolt in charleston, south carolina. now most people in this audience who are native charlestons, you can get an a in south carolina history and be totally ignorant about the gentleman you are profiling tonight. once again, appreciate all the work you do on behalf of us. but could each of you just speak generally, let me give you one example. because two weeks ago i was watching c-span. these words are not synonymous. your peers will talk about southern history. and if you get up and publicly project that you're an expert, you're an authority about a subject and all you can speak

about is the successionists, that's because you are ignorant and not you personally, but your peers didn't do their work on alternative viewpoints. and as you go across south carolina, you see a dearth of information about the native americans and we as african-americans we are not invisible people. >> brother, can you form your question? reframe your question. >> just some feedback on the importance of history, that we need to know our history. >> you want to take a stab? >> yes, yes, yes. thank you. very much for your observations. i think one way to link what we're talking about here tonight to the gentleman's question is this time period in american history that we have focused on through the life of robert smalls, the period of slavery, the civil war and reconstruction

is a part of a process by which and through which the nation has become not perfect, but more perfect. over time. in other words, american democracy has many flaws. we're aware of that. but nevertheless, the onward march of history has shown america to become a better nation over time, a more inclusive nation over time. we're not where we need to be, but thank goodness we're not where we have been. and guess what? one of the reasons we have been able to make the kind of progress that we have made has been through the liberation of african-americans from slavery to emancipation to freedom, 13th amendment, 14th amendment, 15th amendment, and so on and so forth, civil rights movement. ultimately we get the anti-war movement, the women's rights movement, and so on and so forth. we're all a part of not becoming

perfect, but a more perfect nation. and that's what -- that's the direction that we need to continue to move in. >> i think you are correct in that sometimes we can't see the forest for the trees. we do get involved in our own topics and don't really understand why other people aren't as interested or can find the same answers that we do find. i do believe in the last 20 years there has been a wonderful movement with the park service in both south carolina and in the nation to put forward -- i do teach south carolina history at the university of south carolina buford. and i think dr. edgars history of south carolina covers things well, the encyclopedia of south carolina. the information is there, we just need to get it out to the people to see. it is part of our jobs as historians to do that. >> i would add that we have to keep in mind that learning

occurs in many of our environments, not just the formal structures that we think of in terms of the schools and, but it occurs in places like this institution where we're sitting here, the churches in the community. so i think if our young people aren't informed, we have to all assume responsibility for it. and it's something that we have to continue to do. it's not a lesson. it's like a good story that you tell. it gets better every time you tell it. and so we have to continue to do that in many different places and assume responsibility for it. i'm going to come up to the front here and you can get in line. i just have a quick question. part of the challenge of history is helping young people understand, contextualizing who

someone was who may have been around 150 years ago. i'm sure all of you have heard who said our current president and first lady remind some people of the kennedys in terms of charisma and things like that. are there any 20th century examples of people through in history that robert smalls might -- that there might be some sort of connection to help give maybe some younger people sense of the kind of role or the stature or the accomplishments that maybe robert smalls had? does anything come to mind? i know that's a -- that's a trick one. but keep that in mind. maybe we'll get to it later. sir? >> my name is gus -- augustus holt. i am the historian for the 1955 cannon street all-star baseball

team which is related to what you just alluded to as far as why stories are not known as well as others and why our history per se and the history of robert smalls and those others like him who was pioneers who helped shape the fabric of america, who actually built america. now, there is a saying that goes like the pen is mightier than the sword. well, the african-american community as a whole did not control the pen. and the media basically enhances

what they feel is relevant and what they feel empowers them. the media and not only the media, but the -- our educational system was not concerned about enlightening and a empowering african-americans. so it was our job as parents and through our various institution, the church, our faith-based institution, that's how we educate ourselves to the history of our people, the african-american contribution to america.

>> question? >> but let me say this question is, though, and my question is really to this panel, this esteemed panel i must add, because i know these gentlemen. they have, and i don't have a question per se, but these gentlemen have contributed greatly to the education and the enlightenment to the contribution of african-american, especially in relating to the avery institute. and dr. dulaney, dr. powers, ms. nichols, they have contributed a lot. but it's up to us to challenge

the educational institutions in the school system to really push the information out to our kids. and i appreciate you, because i really appreciate this panel and for what they're doing now. thank you very much. >> thank you. [ applause ] i have a question for you, ms. nichols. we were this morning at the charleston museum, which i guess is the oldest museum in the country. you are at the largest museum in the world, i guess. people of african descent have been in this country since 1619. what happened? what was sort of the politics or what happened that is bringing the new museum of african-american history to life at this time? >> well, actually, it was

earlier than that where african-american civil war veterans were calling for this kind of commemoration. we had the leadership of someone like john lewis, who really pushed for this national african-american museum, and its time has come. and african-americans need to be represented in these kinds of cultural institutions. >> you have a question, sir? >> i might add on that that a major part of the civil rights movement of the 1960s was the establishment of african-american studies, which was to make it possible for african-americans to review their own history, write their own history, and develop an understanding of their experience. so ancient questions like who are we, identity could be resolved more matter of factually. my question relates to robert smalls' unfinished work.

the unfinished work of robert smalls. what did smalls not complete? we see the fort royal experiment. the attempts to set up an economic environment in which the former slave would be able to support himself, raise a family, start businesses, normally develop as any people would. this is wrecked by the democratic party and the aftermath, the beginning of the first reconstruction, and after the second reconstruction, which was black reconstruction as dubois defines it. what do you see us doing today with regard to this unfinished work of economic development, the economic empowerment of these people who for centuries have been exploited and a robbed by the system in america?