The sun hadn't yet risen above the horizon on the foggy morning of May 13th, 1862. Skulking to the harbor, Robert Smalls and the Black enslaved crew of the Planter, a Confederate cargo ship, stole away. They had a mission.
To resist the slave owners of the Confederacy was a way to guarantee death for Black people. Yet Smalls and those with him, understood the risks and charged on. Smalls knew the Confederate routes along South Carolina's coastline.
Knowing that his plan to free himself and others from the shackles of oppression relied on covert resistance, Smalls memorized the sentry signals of the ships in the Confederate infested waters. Even once they were out their range, they still weren't safe.
Smalls’s act of resistance went beyond gaining his freedom. Once in the territory of The Union Army, he used his knowledge and skills to gain a position of power within their ranks and persuaded the President to give rank to Black soldiers. They weren’t going to be enslaved again.
Sometimes, it's best to move in silence. Hundreds of years after pioneers like Smalls, we are still organizing in silence and rising to create a movement. But just because we may be quiet doesn't mean that change isn't coming or we're not on the move.