Notable radio presents echoes of us. The carpenter who built freedom with his hands. True story based on Robert Smalls.
I want you to imagine Charleston, South Carolina, in 1862. A city wrapped in heat, tension, and the heavy silence of a country at war with itself. The harbor was full of Confederate ships, cannons, pointed towards the horizon.
Soldiers pacing the docks with rifles slung over their shoulders. And in the middle of all that danger, all that chaos, there was a man. named Robert Smalls. A 23 year old enslaved dock worker with a quiet voice, a sharp mind, and a plan so bold, it sounded like something out of a movie.
Robert worked on a Confederate transport ship called the Planter. He knew every rope, every lever, every sound the engine made. He knew the roots, the signals, the guards' routines.
He knew the harbor better than the men who claimed to own it. But more than anything, Robert knew one thing for certain. He was not going to die enslaved.
He had a wife, Hannah, and two children. He had a mother who lived her entire life in bondage. He had a future he refused to surrender.
So Robert Smalls did something no one expected. He decided to steal the ship. At night, not in a storm, not in a moment of confusion, but at dawn, in full view of the Confederate army.
The plan was simple, but deadly. The white officers slept on shore every night, leaving the enslaved crew alone on the ship. Robert waited until the guards were gone, then gathered the men he trusted.
He told them the truth. This is our chance. If we fail, we die.
If we succeed, we live free. They agreed. Just before sunrise, Robert put on the captain's coat and hat.
He stood tall, shoulders back, heart pounding like a drum. He looked at the harbor, the check points, the soldiers, the cannons, and he took the wheel. One by one, they approached each Confederate post.
Robert gave the secret hand signals. He blew the captain's whistle. He saluted like he belonged there.
And the guards waved him through. When they reached the final checkpoint, the one closest to open water. Robert felt the weight of every ancestor behind him.
He felt the prayers of every enslaved person in Charleston. He felt the fear, the hope, the fire. He gave the last signal.
The guards waved again, and just like that, Robert Smalls sailed in Confederate warship, straight out of slavery. But he wasn't done. He steered the ship towards the Union blockade.
The very ships the Confederates were fighting. He raised the white bedsheet his wife had sown the night before, and when the Union soldiers saw it, they didn't fire. They welcomed him.
Robert delivered the ship, the cannons, the ammunition, and the Confederate codes to the Union Navy. He freed himself. He freed his family, he freed the entire crew.
And then, because his courage didn't end at the water, he went on to become a Union war hero, a ship captain, a businessman, a five term U.S. congressman. A man who brought the plantation where he was, once enslaved, and let the former owner live there rent free, until she died. Robert Smalls didn't just escape slavery.
He outsmarted it. He outlived it. He outshined it.
Robert Smalls teaches us that freedom is built, not given. He reminds us that strategy is a form of strength. Intelligence is a weapon.
Courage is a compass. And faith is a fuel. His story tells every person of color listening to your voice.
Every day. That we are capable of impossible things. We are not defined by where we start.
We are not defined by what we dare to do. Robert didn't wait for permission. He didn't wait for the world to change.
He changed his world. With his mind, his hands, and his belief that he was met for more. And so are you.
My name is Alicia Lacy.
You are listening to Echoes of Us.
Notable | Curators
Jan 5 20265 mins