Robert Smalls, that is the marvelous man we'll be talking about today for the first part of this episode anyway.

Robert was a hero of the American Civil War, a union navy captain, a politician and an inspiration to so many.

His remarkable story is a lesser known piece of civil war history, but that doesn't make it any less inspirational.

He was born enslaved in Buford, South Carolina, grown up seen and experiencing the horrors of slavery.

As a teenager, he worked on ships in the Charleston Harbor where he learned to sail and navigate the coast and that knowledge would change the course of his life drastically.

When the Civil War broke out in April of 1861, he was forced to work on the planner, a steamer that served as a supply ship for the Confederacy.

Robert became the ship's wheelman.

And a year later, Robert did the unthinkable.

He and other fellow enslaved crew members stole the planner, sailed out of Charleston Harbor right under the noses of Confederate guards and cannons.

Robert brought the union navy ammunition guns, valuable information.

He then became a hero for the Union Army and was influential in recruiting black soldiers for the war effort.

Robert went on to become a prominent South Carolina politician served in the US House of Representatives for multiple terms.

He succeeded despite numerous forces against him.

Southern Democrats determined to enforce white supremacy threats from the KKK and other hate groups and the rise of Jim Crow laws around him following reconstruction.

Robert Smolls valued hard work and determination.

He embodied it.

He was known for talking about how he never needed any special defenses or exceptions.

All he needed was a chance to succeed and succeed.

He did.

Robert lived during one of the most rapidly changing politically and racially tense times in our nation's history.

Despite so many obstacles set in front of him along his path.

Despite so many rooting for him to fail or worse, he didn't.

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