Robert Smalls

While sitting in the airport terminal waiting to board my flight back home I was scrolling on Instagram to pass the time. Eventually I came across this short post about a former slave named Robert Smalls. This post intrigued me so I decided to do a bit more research into this person. What I found was probably one of the coolest life stories you can think. So here it is. 

Robert Smalls

Robert Smalls was born on April 5 1839 in Beaufort South Carolina. He was born into slavery where he was taken to Charleston, South Carolina, to be hired out to work. he worked various jobs such as Hotel Waiter,  Hack Driver, and Rigger. 

When the Civil war started in 1861 Robert was forced to work on the Confederate steam ship, named the CSS Planter. This ship was used for transporting and aiding the confederate soldiers with ammo and guns. Now here is where it gets interesting. In 1862 Robert and a few other enslaved people took control of the ship, picked up his wife and children while also picking up other enslaved people. They made it though Military checkpoints by using a secret code book and sailed their way to freedom. This made him a war hero in the North. 

About a year later in 1863 he was piloting another ship, this time for the union, named the USS Keokuk which was set out to bombard Fort Sumter. The ship took many hits and eventually sunk but Smalls's bravery didn't go un-noticed. He was given command over his own ship, named the USS Planter. It was the same ship Smalls took over earlier once the Union took ownership of it.  This made him the first African American captain in the U.S. Navy. 

After this he was in Philadelphia and was kicked off a streetcar for being black. he then lead a boycott of the transit system which lead to its desegregation.  

After the Civil war Smalls was a businessman back in Beaufort but quickly got into Politics. He was in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1868 to 1870. and then served int he state senate from 1870 to 1874. He was then Elected into the U.S. House of Representatives. He did a lot of notable things but the most significant thing was integrating the U.S. armed forces. This basically made it so that Black people had an equal opportunity to join the army and have equal requirements for doing so. 

After his time in the House was up he retuned home and died peacefully in 1915 at the age of 75.

In 2007 the Army named a ship after him. It was named the USAV Major General Robert Smalls. According to the Army, it was the first ship to be named after an African American 

EOTO #4 ThurGood Marshall

Thurgood Marshall was elected to become the first African American to serve on the supreme court on the 30th of August 1967. Marshall won by a 69-11 vote by the United States Senate. Before the vote actually took place the senate had a long debate, which lasted about 6 hours, regarding Thurgood Marshall. The debate was mainly about his character and his prior experiences in law. Of course, being nominated by the president for the position and also being confirmed for two other government positions helped him out.

Thurgood Marshall

Looking into his Legal career he participated in many cases regarding Civil rights. 

Brown v. Board case

Murry v. Maryland (1936)

Missouri ex rel Gaines v. Canada (1938)

After this he took over the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and argued the following cases 

McLaurin v. Oklahoma Board of Regents and Higher Education (1950)

Brown v. Board of Education. 

His arguments in favor of Civil Rights did not go unnoticed. President John F. Kennedy appointed him to the U.S. Court of Appeals. After Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson appointed him Solicitor General. The Solicitor General is someone who argues to the Supreme Court on the behalf of the United States Government. When Lyndon Johnson nominated him for the Supreme court position, he said that:

“Best qualified by training and by very valuable service to the country. … I believe it is the right thing to do, the right time to do it, the right man, the right place.”

Portait

Of course, during the actual debate regarding his position there was talk about him being a good fit for the supreme court. There were 5 senators who did not approve of him being a Justice with one of them saying it was a “Disservice to the Constitution and this Country to appoint a judicial activist to the supreme court at any time.” But Thurgood Marshall prevailed and with his 69-11 vote he became the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court.

Thurgood Marshall served for a total of 24 years on the U.S. Supreme Court before retiring in 1991. 

Marshall and his new friends

Driving Miss Daisy Reaction

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Today in class we watched a movie called "Driving Miss Daisy" which was made in 1989 and follows the story of a southerner named Daisy Werthan (Jessica Tandy), her son Boolie (Dan Aykroyd), and her driver Hoke Colburn (Morgan Freeman).

The movie has a very interesting start. We see Miss Daisy get into her car and immediately have as mall accident by backing into her neighbors yard. After this accident the insurance companies said that she is no longer allowed to drive herself. This also implies this isn't the first time an accident like this has happened. This makes her son Boolie hire a personal driver for her. He ends up hiering an African American man named Hoke Colburn. Holk caught Boolie's attention when he was seen helping fix an elevator. 

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At first Miss Daisy is not happy about this new arrangement. She can be described as a back seat driver and gets upset at Holk over little and minor things. The movie was set in the late 1940's to early 1950's
and it also took place before and after the Civil rights movement. We can see racial tendencies with Miss Daisy as not only does she disprove of his driving but also gets mad at other things. One of these things is getting mad at Holk for eating a $0.33 can of tuna. 

Over time however, Miss Daisy warms up to Holk and eventually they become friends. We can see their friendship at its height towards the end of the movie. At the end of the movie, its been years since Holk first became her driver. It was clear to me that Miss Daisy is suffering from some form of dementia however it only strengthens her and Holk's friendship. 

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Although its clear that Miss Daisy has some form of dementia however she still remembers Holk and remembers the good times they shared over the years.

Overall I thought this movie was great. The movie really shows how racial prejudice was around this time. I also thought it was nice how Miss Daisy and Holk were best friends at the end event hough Miss Daisy had dementia. 

EOTO#3 Reaction

 It was very interesting hearing todays EOTO presentations. Each presentation gave me new information about events that helped advance or eliminate segregation. 

Emmett Till

The presentation about Emmett Till that Lynx gave was very interesting. In the past I have done research and learned about the Emmett Till case, so going into the presentation I was already aware of the events that
happened. Its very sad to see how false accusations can have such a negative effect on the accused. Its also worth mentioning that Emit Till's mother wanted an open casket funeral which was a shock to most people. The idea was to show how black people are treated with even the smallest accusation with no evidence. 

Another notable presentation from this side was the presentation about Sundown towns given by Ariel. It was interesting to hear how some towns int he U.S. actually banned Black people. It was also surprising that some of these towns still exist today. 

Moving over to the other side of events that helped eliminate segregation I heard some really interesting stories and topics. I think the topics I liked the most were the two presentations given by Julia about the NAACP and the history of the negro college fund. 

NAACP Logo

The NAACP stands for "The National Association for Advancement of Colored People" and its goal was
to promote equality and get rid of racial prejudice. It was great to hear how this organization helped people of color by helping them win court cases. In total they won 29 out of the 32 court cases brought to the Supreme Court. 

As for the United Negro College Fund they aided more than 40 black colleges which helped black people find better employment after college. This organization helped money black people as they now had better education and therefore could find better jobs. they also gave out scholarships to colleges and funds to help with maintenance and materials. 

Overall each presentation was very well informing and I gained a lot mroe information about topics that are important to American History.