46: Robert Smalls: An American Hero (Part 5)

An Old Timey Podcast

True Crime, History, Comedy

4.9 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 19 March 2025

⏱️ 106 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The final chapter of Robert Smalls’ life was eventful, and, at times, frustrating. He gained and lost government appointments. He won and lost political races. He weathered attacks on his character and attacks on his constituents. Through it all, he used his intelligence and agility to battle a system that tried – and failed – to take him down.

Remember, kids, history hoes always cite their sources! For this episode, Norm pulled from:

Billingsley, Andrew. Yearning to Breathe Free: Robert Smalls of South Carolina and His Families. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2010.

Lineberry, Cate. Be Free or Die: The Amazing Story of Robert Smalls’ Escape from Slavery to Union Hero. St. Martin’s Press, 2017.

Miller, Edward. Gullah Statesman: Robert Smalls from Slavery to Congress, 1839-1915. University of South Carolina Press, 2008.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Here you, hear ye. You are listening to an old-timey podcast. I'm Normie C.
0:06.6	And whatever happened to that douchebag? It's Kristen Caruso!
0:11.5	I don't know who you're talking about, but on this episode, it's the finale of my series on Robert Smalls.
0:19.1	Wow. I'm so excited.
0:21.3	This has been a fantastic series, and I hope you don't screw it up by making a really bad last
0:26.5	episode.
0:27.8	Thank you, Kristen.
0:29.3	You're welcome.
0:29.9	Can we rewind?
0:30.6	Who are you talking about with a douchebag?
0:33.0	Is this a line from a reality show that I don't know?
0:35.9	No, this is me auditioning for every reality show.
0:39.0	These are just the fun one-liners that I can come up with at any time about anybody.
0:45.1	What reality show would you want to be on if you could be on any of them?
0:48.3	Oh, God.
0:48.7	I don't know.
0:49.2	I just know that I think I would be really great in the confessionals because I would say very mean,
0:57.3	hilarious stuff that I would later have to apologize for.
1:00.9	And the rest of the cast would be like, what?
1:03.0	She was always so quiet when we were in a big group setting.
1:06.5	That is true.
1:08.0	You would say some evil shit in those confessions.
	...

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