The Freedom Ship of Robert Smalls

The true story of an enslaved African American man who escaped to freedom and became a military and political leader

Robert Smalls, born a slave in 1839 in Beaufort, South Carolina, gained fame as an African American hero of the American Civil War. The Freedom Ship of Robert Smalls tells the inspirational story of Small’s life as a slave, his boyhood dream of freedom, and his bold and daring plan as a young man to commandeer a Confederate gunboat from Charleston Harbor and escape with fifteen fellow slaves and family members. Smalls joined the Union Navy and rose to the rank of captain and became the first African American to command a U.S. service ship. After the war Smalls returned to Beaufort, bought the home of his former master, and began a long career in state and national politics.

This new edition of The Freedom Ship of Robert Smalls, originally published in 1971, features Louise Meriwether’s original narrative, now illustrated by the colorful paintings of renowned Southern artist Jonathan Green.

Jonathan Green, a native of Gardens Corner, South Carolina, has gained acclaim as one of the most important contemporary artists of the Southern experience. His work has been exhibited and collected internationally and appears in Gullah Images: The Art of Jonathan Green. Green has been honored with the NAACP Image Awards Key of Life, the Elizabeth O’Neill Verner Award of the South Carolina Arts Commission, the South Carolina Order of the Palmetto, and other accolades.