First? Holy fuck
Robert Smalls was one of the most badass people in history
South Carolina is preparing to put up the first individual statue of an African American on its Statehouse lawn.
Let me check the year again…
Yep, 2024 and not 1866.
I mean it’s not like there are any prominent black people in South Carolina who can be commemorated, right?
https://www.sciway.net/afam/byname.html
Certainly no one like Chadwick Boseman, Eartha Kitt or JAMES MOTHERFUCKING BROWN.
Or I don’t know, how about Ronald McNair, the South Carolinian astrophysicist who died on the Space Shuttle Challenger?
And even if you want to reduce it to war heroes, how about this dude?
Lt. Col. Spann Watson - On July 8, 1943, Watson and seven other pilots defeated the German Luftwaffe over the Mediterranean Sea, marking the first time black American pilots fought in air combat. As a member of the prestigious Tuskegee Airmen, he was honored by President Bill Clinton at the White House in 1998. Lt. Col. Watson received an honorary PhD in public service from Rhode Island College in 1994, and his photo hangs in the National Air and Space Museum. He is credited with having been instrumental in the official desegregation of the US military.
It’s awfully late to be putting this statue up, but he’s a pretty solid choice. Captured a Confederate transport ship and donated it to the union war effort. Helped convince the union to allow black people into the army. Served in the House of Representatives during reconstruction.
Captured a Confederate ship and gave it to the Union, and South Carolina is putting up a statue for him? Damn, I’m honestly (but pleasantly) surprised.
Definitely a good choice, but it’s insane that it took this long when there are so many other people they could have picked.
Robert Smalls is my favorite American of all time.
