Beaufort took center stage on Sunday morning’s episode of CBS Sunday Morning, a production of CBS News. The topic was the Reconstruction Era, and Beaufort’s history was well told; as was the story of Robert Smalls.
The Reconstruction Era is recognized as the period after the Civil War from 1865 to 1877 after slavery was abolished and the nation started to rebuild into an interracial democracy. It’s one of the most misunderstood chapters in American history.
Beaufort played a crucial part in that era with Penn Center on St. Helena Island, and a very popular local fellow named Smalls.
CBS covered the Reconstruction Era very thoroughly, noting that over a dozen African-American men were elected to the U.S Congress, one of them being Robert Smalls.
“It was a time of unparalleled hope,” said Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, who visited Beaufort just last week and has produced a new documentary about Reconstruction airing this month on PBS.
The segment of the news show talked about the story of Robert Smalls, referring to it as “the original Great Escape.” They followed Smalls’ heroic story back to his home in Beaufort and his election to the U.S. House of Representatives.
Watch the full CBS Sunday Morning segment here….
“The Reconstruction Era National Monument was established in Robert Smalls’ hometown of Beaufort, S.C.,” CBS said. “Just down the road, you can see the house he lived in as a free man and the church he attended.”
“Alongside it [the church] is a bust of Smalls – the only known statue in the South of any of the pioneering black Congressmen of Reconstruction.”
CBS visited Beaufort for the segment and also interviewed Robert Smalls’ great-great-grandson Michael Boulware Moore, who proudly told his ancestor’s story.
Read the full CBS web article here.
Read more about Robert Smalls.
Read more about the Reconstruction Era National Monument in Beaufort.
