I'm Lana Ulrich, in-house counsel at the National Constitution Center, and welcome

to We The People, a weekly show of constitutional debate.

Jeffrey Rosen is away this week. The National Constitution Center is a

nonpartisan nonprofit chartered by Congress to increase awareness and

understanding of the Constitution

among the American people. Today on our special Civil War and

Reconstruction series we examine the life of the remarkable Robert Smalls.

In the midst of the Civil War, Smalls led a Confederate

ship with more than a dozen other enslaved people to freedom. This extraordinary act was the first

of many, as Smalls went on to fight in the Union Army

to lead one of the nation's first mass public transportation boycotts,

to start a school for African American children,

and to eventually become one of the first African-American men elected

to Congress, where he served five terms.

Joining us today to discuss Robert Smalls is one of his descendants and a leading Civil War and

Reconstruction historian. Michael Moore is the one of his descendants and a leading Civil War and Reconstruction Historian.

Michael Moore is the CEO and President of the International African American Museum in Charleston,

South Carolina, which is slated to open in 2020.

He is also the great-great-grandson of Robert Smalls.

Kate Maser is an associate professor of history

at Northwestern University, where she specializes in the study

of Civil War and Reconstruction. With Greg Down, she can. where she conducted the National Park theme study on reconstruction.

...