By Lauren Pierce: Originally posted on August 31, 2024 by UpsateToday.com

COLUMBIA — Gov. Henry McMaster and Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette were joined by other state leaders Thursday for a ceremonial bill signing of the Robert Smalls Monument — a tribute to a man who played a significant role in South Carolina’s history.

House Bill 5042 creates the Robert Smalls Commission, tasked with determining the design and location of a monument honoring Smalls on the South Carolina State House grounds.

“What we’re doing today with this man, Robert Smalls, is one more piece of important, crucial history that people need to know about,” McMaster said. “We have a fantastic history, and our history is what makes us — what we’ve been through, what we know, our land, our water, the geography, all of that is what makes us what we are.”

Smalls was a South Carolina statesman born into slavery in Beaufort in 1839. He escaped to freedom in 1862 by piloting a Confederate ship out of Charleston Harbor and delivering it to Union forces. In 1868, Smalls was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives and later to the South Carolina Senate. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1874, serving five terms. 

Smalls fought for several causes, authoring legislation that was the “first free and compulsory public education for South Carolina” and founding the South Carolina Republican Party, State Senator Gerald Malloy said.

Malloy likened the addition of the monument to adding a chapter to the “living museum around us” and on the grounds of the statehouse. 

“We are here today to commemorate the passage of the bill that was passed, that honors the remarkable life and legacy of a true hero, Robert Smalls, by establishing a monument in his name. … It’s the first time we have an African American man that goes up on the statehouse grounds, the first individual to go up there,” Malloy said. “And how deserving is he for this? Robert Smalls was a man whose courage, determination and unwavering commitment to freedom and justice had left an indelible mark on both our state and nation’s history. 

“By passing this bill … and authorizing this monument, we acknowledge the importance of preserving and sharing the stories of those who have fought for the ideals that define our beloved state,” he added. “It is through remembering our past, by learning from the past that together we can shape a better future. … It unanimously passed both bodies — 99 to zero in the House, 44 to zero in the Senate. I think that message of working together is one that would make Robert Smalls proud.”

State Rep. Jermaine Johnson pointed to the impact this monument will have for the younger generations.  

“This is a South Carolina that our young people deserve; they deserve this from us. In a few short years, we’re going to be able to sit under the gaze of not only a South Carolinian who’s a hero, but an American hero, an individual who fought for all of us, an individual who we all benefit from today,” Johnson said of the future Robert Smalls monument. “This individual will be somebody that we get to look at and say, You know what? Look at this amazing man, what he did for me.”

The bill passed the South Carolina Senate and House unanimously, something Johnson said surprised him when considering today’s political climate. 

“I was talking to my Democratic colleagues, (Rep. Brandon Co) was talking to his Republican colleagues, and we were ensuring that this piece of legislation would make it across the finish line,” Johnson said. “I don’t think in our wildest dreams that either one of us thought that this thing would be passed with not only just a unified, just a unanimous vote, not just on the House side, but also on the Senate side. If you know anything about politics, you know that doesn’t happen very often. A lot of times they use bills as leverage, and they want to hold things hostage … but this piece of legislation proved to be uniting.”

Monument process

The 11-member Robert Smalls Commission will report the proposed design and location of the monument to the State House Committee for approval by Jan. 15, 2025. McMaster’s office said the monument must be completed and dedicated by Jan. 15, 2028, at which time the commission will be dissolved. The final design must receive approval from the General Assembly by concurrent resolution. 

The legislation will direct the commission to raise private funds, gifts and grants to create the monument. The commission may establish a tax-exempt nonprofit to receive and disburse funds for the project.