It's Black History Month! Today, we're talking about Robert Smalls. Smalls was born enslaved, worked on ships for the confederacy whilst enslaved, and then took it upon himself to steal a steam ship, save his family & others, sail past Ft Sumter in the middle of the night, and provide the Union with guns & info. Later, he went back south, invested in his community, and represented them in Congress. Join us for this heroic tale!
It's Black History Month! Today, we're talking about Robert Smalls. Smalls was born enslaved, worked on ships for the confederacy whilst enslaved, and then took it upon himself to steal a steam ship, save his family & others, sail past Ft Sumter in the middle of the night, and provide the Union with guns & info.
Later, he went back south, invested in his community, and represented them in Congress.
Join us for this heroic tale!
Some sources:
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/robert-smalls-bold-feat-so-skillfully
https://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/which-slave-sailed-himself-to-freedom/
https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/21764
Hi Friends! Our transcripts aren't perfect, but I wanted to make sure you had something - if you'd like an edited transcript, I'd be happy to prioritize one for you - please email doomedtofailpod@gmail.com - Thanks! - Taylor
Taylor: Happy Bad Bunny Day in California ahead of Super Bowl Sunday
>> Taylor: In the matter of the people of State of California vs. Orenthal James Simpson, case number BA096.
>> Farz: And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you.
>> Taylor: Boom.
>> Farz: Taylor. Happy Super Bowl Sunday. How are you?
>> Taylor: Good. Happy Bad Bunny Day. If you're in California, Newsom press office did, like, a hilarious all caps announcement that today is Bad Bunny Day in California.
>> Farz: Seriously?
>> Taylor: It's like, you know, it's part of his, like, jokes where he, like, does everything in all caps and he's like, I'm the handsomest governor of all time.
>> Farz: He's trying to roast Trump. He's trying to. Got it, got it. Okay. He's doing. He's doing his bit. He's doing his.
>> Taylor: He's doing his bit. Yeah, but it's like AI generated like. Like. Like gold, like, medallion on the press release, and it's like, definitely AI. And it says, like, America's favorite governor. Just so funny. It's just.
>> Farz: What are you planning on doing for the Super Bowl? Like, are you going somewhere? Is everybody coming to your house? Are you making food? What are you doing?
>> Taylor: We're just going to. We're just going to have to watch it, just the four of us. And then I want to watch the game. I like when the. I don't want the Patriots to win because I like when Boston sports fans are sad, weird.
>> Farz: I kind of am rooting for the Patriots because I kind of. The Daily did an episode about, like, the two teams, and one thing they harped on was how. I don't want to say. Bad of a person. I don't know how. I don't know who Bill Belichick is as a person, but he was definitely, like, a mean person when it came to his team. And it was like, yeah, he was just always on everybody all the time, and they were like. And then this new coach who came in is, like, the opposite. They call him, like, basically a real life Ted Lasso. Just, like, hugging everyone and telling. Encouraging them and everything. I was like, oh, cool, okay, maybe I'm into the Patriots.
>> Taylor: Then, like, have you seen that, the south park about Bill Belichick? When. When Cartman's like, how do I get these kids? It's the water. He goes, how do I teach these kids? And he's like, I'm gonna teach them to cheat. Like Bill Belichick. He just says Bill Belichick a lot like that. And he's like, we have to cheat. Like the Patriots.
>> Farz: Do you have any special menu items?
>> Taylor: I'm just gonna get. Well, I'M gonna get some, just a lot of chips and dip. Love dips.
>> Farz: Good, good.
>> Taylor: You know. How about you? What are you doing?
>> Farz: So we're going to go to this really awesome, fun French place that's, it's like our favorite place. We love it. We actually have already been there this week and we're going to go back and they're going to have be blanc wings and you know, it's like a fancy super bowl party basically. So that's near to that. Yeah. Which also is one of the places I should probably take you when you come to Austin. But tv, we'll figure that out later. But let's dive into it because recording my story is going to take a while.
>> Taylor: Oh, sweet. And we got stuff to do. Awesome.
Taylor has a cool story about US Congressman Robert Smalls for Black History Month
Well, welcome doomed to fail, friends. Happy Super Bowl Sunday, middle of the Olympics. Lots of sports going on. We bring you historical disasters and failures and fun stories. And I am Taylor, joined by fars.
>> Farz: Yes, I am here. And we are going to be talking or hearing.
>> Taylor: Taylor, I have a really cool story to tell you for Black History Month.
>> Farz: Yeah.
>> Taylor: Have you heard of US Congressman Robert Smalls? And when he, he wasn't a congressman when he did this, but he stole a ship and sailed him, himself and his family to freedom during the Civil War.
>> Farz: You know what? I think we have talked about him. Fantastic. We haven't done a full story about him, but we talked about. Yes. Yeah, I remember this.
>> Taylor: It always comes up, I feel like on things where it's like, why isn't this a movie? And it does look like it's been optioned to be a movie a couple times and that they're like working on it. But it should definitely like be a movie because it's really f****** fun. So Robert Smalls was born on April 5, 1839 in Beaufort, South Carolina and spelled B E A U F O R D. And I feel like Buford, Buford, Buford.
>> Farz: But then there is a Buford. I think there's a B U F O R T in like Indiana or something.
>> Taylor: Yeah. And I also like, you know, say that with a South Carolina accent or whatever. But he was born in South Carolina in 1839. His mother was an enslaved woman named Lydia Polite. And his father is unknown. It could be a. It could be the person who enslaved their family. It could be that person's son. It could be another person. Like no one knows exactly like who whose father was. But his mom seems like, you know, very smart, very forward thinking. One thing that she taught him that is something that like have you ever heard of the. Of Gullah as a language and Gullah people?
>> Farz: I have, yeah. I think I. I know there's. There's some island off South Carolina where that's the last place they actually speak it. Or it's like dead already. But it was original. Is there something around that I recall exactly.
>> Taylor: It' it. That, that. That's almost it. So Gullah is, you know, an African American population that's in the coastal islands of like South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina and Florida. And I heard about it. There is a kids show from the 1990s called Gullah Gullah Island. And it's like a cup like a black couple in their family. And they talk a lot about like the Gullah culture and stuff. And it's really sweet. And I forgot about it until today. Cause I remember watching it when Florence was younger. So he, he's part of like that community of people as well as living in, in, in Beaufort Buford and, and with his, with his mother, they were enslaved by a man named Henry McKee. And McKee liked Smalls. He liked him like as, as a kid and had him, you know, working in the house and in the house around him, which is like maybe part of the speculation that he could have been the father, that kind of thing. But his mother was, was like, no, he needs to know what is going on. He needs to be like a lot more aware. He can't just like have this technically cushy enslaved role in this house. So he asked him to move to the fields when he was 12 so that he could see what was happening because she wanted him to know like more viscerally like watching people get like whipped and punished and things like that. After that, she asked if he could be hired out to work in other jobs. And so the way that it worked is he was enslaved by Henry McKee and so is laid by McKee. But he would be hired out as like a lamplighter in town or he worked at a hotel and eventually he started working on boats. But there are things like when he worked in some of his jobs, the compensation was like $16 a week, but he only got to keep $1 and McKee got $15 of his salary. You know, so like again, you cannot like build a life with that. You're still very much enslaved by this person, even though you're like, is this.
>> Farz: A time period when $1 was worth like a thousand dollars?
>> Taylor: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. There's a little bit, there's a little bit later where there's something that's like 800 is like $30,000. So. Yes. It's still like. Like he would have been making like he.
>> Farz: A lot of making a decent living. I mean, if he kept the whole 16, he would have been making a great living.
>> Taylor: Yeah. A lot of his, like, jobs and occupations before and during the Civil War, if he were. If he had been a free white person with those jobs and occupations, he would have been successful, you know.
>> Farz: Yeah.
>> Taylor: Like, he could have supported his family and like lived a life, but it was impossible because of the money that he owed Mickey because McKee enslaved him, you know.
>> Farz: Yeah.
>> Taylor: So when Smalls was 17, he got married to a woman named Hannah Jones. She was older than him and already had two kids. And then they would have two children. But one of the children died when he was 2, which is super sad. He wanted to buy his family's freedom. But this is the. This is it. It was $800 to free his wife, her two children, and his own child. And I believe himself. I'm not sure if he would have remained in slave.
>> Farz: Wait, they could do that? They could buy their own freedom?
>> Taylor: Yeah, you could buy like, you could as like one member of the family, you know, pay for the rest of your. Like you basically are buying them. You know, I never.
The battle of Fort Sumter was the opening battle of the Civil War
And then setting.
>> Farz: That was free.
>> Taylor: Wait, so.
>> Farz: But he wasn't. But he wasn't free.
>> Taylor: No, but he would have been able to like do that for them.
>> Farz: But he would stay a slave.
>> Taylor: Yes.
>> Farz: Interesting.
>> Taylor: Okay. But he wasn't able to save the money because it was 800 to do that, which is like $30,000 now. And again he's making a dollar a week.
>> Farz: Right, right.
>> Taylor: You know, so again, yeah, yeah. He would have been successful if he was allowed to be, but he was not. And so now it is the Civil war. It is April 1861, and there's a battle of Fort Sumter, which is. I read there's a new Eric Larson book about it. And I. Who? He's the guy who wrote the Devil in the White City. Eric Larson. And he has a book about the battle of Fort Sumter. And I read it and I felt like I hadn't. I didn't feel like I could do an episode on it yet. I need to like, learn more. But essentially Fort Sumter is a man made island that's in front of the Charleston harbor. And it was the opening battle of the Civil War when Confederate forces fired on the US Union army that was holding the fort. And then the Fort surrendered on April 13 and the union left There's a whole bunch of stuff happening there with like, the person who, like, refused to leave really wanted to, like, hold it down, but they were starving. It was like a blockade. A whole bunch of stuff. And then because this first battle the Confederacy won, it started to. It like, really triggered Lincoln being like, come on, let's. We have to do this. And trying to get more. More volunteers and more states and more people in, because now it became like a violent war because now there were, like, guns involved, you know?
>> Farz: Yeah. That was the opening shot.
>> Taylor: Yeah. So Fort Sumter is close to where Smalls lived and worked. So by this time he's working on boats. He decided he, like, was, you know, working around town odd jobs, started working in the. It's a big. It's a really. It's like a. An inlet and a very active waterway where, like Fort Sumter is sort of like on the outside of it going out into the ocean, but inside there's a lot of stuff going on. And he really liked working there. He liked working on boats. And so he became like a boat worker there in Charleston and so.
>> Farz: Have you ever been to Charleston? No, I've been to Charleston a few times. I'm actually going back, like, in a month or so. It is such a cool town. This. It has all the energy of like an old Southern town with that is like all ocean based too. So like, all the architecture, it just. It's such a. It's such an interesting place. Like, you. You really feel like you're in, like, old, old America when you're there. Yeah. There was one. One event I went to there, and they had like, oyster chuckers walking around, like people just walking around with a bucket of oyster and they had holsters that had like, vinegar and like, sauces on them. And they'll just walk by, like. Yeah, I have an oyster. Just take an oyster out, chuck it right there, and then spray with sauce. It was this. It was so cool.
>> Taylor: That is.
>> Farz: You should visit.
>> Taylor: That is so gross. But I. But I get. But I get it. I get that. That's cool.
>> Farz: Oysters.
>> Taylor: Yeah. Ew. Oysters are disgusting. They taste like the sea. Why would I want to taste the sea?
>> Farz: Oh, my God.
>> Taylor: I'm a hard.
>> Farz: No coconuts and oysters. Who would have thought, right?
>> Taylor: So. But to your point, I bet it looks very similar to what it looked like when Smalls was working there, you know, probably. Yeah. I don't think it's very different. I think you're right. It's like a. It's like a You know, an old timey and Mary Taimy town.
Robert Morrison describes the CSS Planter during the Civil War
So he's working on a boat. It's called the CSS Planter. And in my brain at first I was like, this must be a pirate ship. Like my, my picture of a boat during the Civil War would be like, oh, it must have like sails. I mean boats had sails are in this. But the boat that he worked on was actually a steamship. It was 147 foot steamboat. And there are pictures of it and there are pictures of small. So like this is not super long ago in our, in our history that this has all happened. But he. It's like it kind of looks like a boat you'd see on like a river and it has a big chimney in the middle and like lots of coal to like make it work. So like that when you look at the pictures of it, like the smoke coming out of it is like super black. It's like a, just like a steamship. And so he is, he steers the boat. That's his job to steer the planter. He. His goal. The goal, what it does. It delivers troops and supplies the Confederacy. Confederacy up and down the coast. It's wartime and Smalls is like, you know what, I should get out of here. You know, like his. It's not obviously not safe for him and his family to continue to live in the south. And he wants to flee and go and go north. So he begins to plan an escape not just for himself, but also for his friends and family. And then like again, he's doing a great job. He has a great job. If he was free, he would have higher rank, would have more money. And then also like, you know, this war is about enslaving people and all this is happening. So he's like, we have to go. So on May 12, 1862, the planter sails from Charleston's coal island, which is an island on a river. So it's like small enough boat that it also goes into rivers. I don't know exactly like what it looks like there, but you can imagine like it's like an inlet from the sea, but also like rivers are connected to it, you know, right in, in. In that port.
>> Farz: So if you look at Charleston, that's all it is. That's why, that's why it just smells like the ocean every, everywhere. Like it's awesome.
>> Taylor: Yeah. So he's. He's on the boat on the planter with his, the people that work with him and they are commanded by a couple white dudes and those white guys, the white Confederate soldiers leave the boat to go on shore, like at night to like go party in town, which they did often. It like, wasn't something that they did, they didn't do. They would often go and leave the boat and leave the enslaved people on the boat to take care of it overnight. Those people, those Confederate soldiers who left the boat later, they're going to be court martialed for this, but it will be overturned and they're not going to like be punished for, for what, what happens next. But Smalls and eight enslaved crew members are on board and he asks if they can have their families come visit because that has happened before. They're like, you guys are going into town to party. Can we please have our families over? And they were like, sure, you can have your families. So a bunch of wives and a couple kids come on the boat with them to hang out in the evening, which was normal and not something that would be suspicious. When they get there, they tell the wives, like, we're going to escape. Some of them are freaking out obviously, because they're like, this is super ridiculously dangerous. Harriet Smalls, his wife, knew that he was planning it, but wasn't like, knew, didn't know it was happening soon, but was like, okay, like, if we're gonna go now, like, this is the only time we have to go, we should go. I have a list of people that were on the boat with him from, just. From the National Park Service website. So he, there was a four year old girl named Elizabeth Smalls Bampfield, another there, his wife, I'm sorry, his wife Hannah. A woman named Clara Jones, a man named Alfred Gourdine, Robert Smalls, Abraham Jackson, Charles Chisholm, Lavinia Wilson Hagan, Susan small, she was 17 years old, John Small. And then Abraham Austin, Annie White, and then a man named Gabriel Turner, and then another one named William C. Morrison, who we could do a whole other episode on. He was helped escape with the planter, but then also later worked with Harriet Tubman and did more stuff too. So all these people like, what, they went on to freedom in the north. So they at like later in the evening, they pretend to bring their families back home so they can say, oh, we saw them leaving the boat and bringing their, their wives and children back to where they lived. But instead of going back to their houses, they circled around and waited on another dock like just like a little bit down the row of docks and hid and waited. So the families are waiting. The men are back on the planter. The Confederate soldiers have not returned. And it is about 3am so it's really dark. Smalls puts on the captain's uniform and a hat. So from.
>> Farz: Wait, why did they have to pretend? Oh, so not everybody was enslaved. That's why they had. That's why they had to pretend. Some of them are going to leave?
>> Taylor: No, they were all enslaved. But they were like, the. The. But they pretended to leave so they could. So it wouldn't be suspicious. So, like, no one would say, like, oh, these families never left the boat, and, like, go tell the other guys.
>> Farz: Oh, so other people were there too. Okay.
>> Taylor: Yeah. So they were like, you know, because it's like a busy dock, you know, so they just went, right, right, like, okay, we did this. Like, we. We completed our. Our, you know, gather. Family gathering. They went home. Nothing is amiss, you know, so you wouldn't even notice. So he puts on the captain's uniform from, like, not that far away. You would never know that he wasn't the captain because it's dark, you know, and we're like, on the sea. He. They. They kind of. They sail around to the other dock, get the families. The thing that Smalls knows is he knows all of the signals and how to move the ship and, like, you know, all the different, like, light signals that you do to be like, all is well, we need help, all the things. So what they have to do is they have to get through.
Robert Small helped the Confederacy secure Coles island during the Civil War
They have to get out of the port past a. A fort called Fort Ripley, then past Fort Sumter, which is the big one, to the US Union blockade, which is, like, outside of. Of this inlet. So he gets past Fort Sumter, and everybody. A couple guys on the boat are like, we should go really fast and, like, around, you know, just to, like, get this over with as fast as possible. But Smalls is like, no, they need to believe that everything is fine. So they just, like, went by casually like normal. And when Fort Sumter signaled, like, a what's going on? Signal, he was able to signal back, like, oh, we're fine. We're just doing this, like, normal run. And they were like, great, you're clear, and got through, because they couldn't really see him. And if they could, they would. It would look like the captain was steering the ship, and he was able. They were able to get past. Kind of reminded me a little bit of, like, the East Germans in the balloon with their family, you know, just like, what you wouldn't do to escape a place with your family.
>> Farz: I don't remember that story I told.
>> Taylor: Remember, I talked about a Long time ago, about the Berlin Wall and, like, people who would. Who were going over it. And there was, like. There were two families. They built an air balloon, and they all just got on it and went over, you know. So by the time they noticed that they were gone, they were too far gone. So they're heading into the US Blockade, which is a bunch of ships with sails, and they have a Confederate boat with Confederate flags, but the white. His wife brought a white sheet, and so they flew that white sheet. So, like, the white flag and the USS Onward, a boat saw them first at sunrise. They saw them sailing north with their bed sheet. They got to get closer, and someone was like, hey, I see a white flag, but I don't see any white people. So they were, like, kind of looking at the boat as it. As the. As it came closer on the ship. The people were dancing and singing. They were looking across the water towards Fort Sumter and, like, swearing at it, which is fun, because they were, like, finally past it. And a witness said that when they got closer, Smalls came forward and said, good morning, sir. I brought you some of the old United States guns, sir, because he brought a whole bunch of guns with him on the boat.
>> Farz: Was he intending on rendezvousing with this ship? Okay, yeah.
>> Taylor: They didn't know, but he knew they'd be there.
>> Farz: Okay.
>> Taylor: Yeah, yeah. The onward captain came on board, and Smalls asked for a US Flag, and they changed the flags from the Confederate flag to the US Flag. Besides the guns that he brought, he brought, I think, more importantly, his code books and his own knowledge of what the Confederacy was doing. So there were things that, like, the Union thought that, like, weren't true, like the number of troops in a certain place, blah, blah, blah. But he knew, and he was able to help them. Help them secure Coles island and then hold parts of the coastline for the entire war. So it was, like, really essential and very, very helpful, all the stuff that he brought as well.
>> Farz: He was kind of like a spy.
>> Taylor: Yeah. Like, he. On his own, you know, he was like, I'm available to spy right now. He never went back, but he brought a bunch of information, you know?
>> Farz: Yep.
>> Taylor: SF Dupont, the flag officer of the boat that they rendezvous, rendezvoused with, sent a letter to the Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Wells. And in that letter, he said, like, this is super exciting. We have a bunch of information. One thing he said, quote, is about Robert Small. He said, robert Small is the intelligent slave and pilot of the boat who performed this bold feat so skillful, so skillfully. This man Robert Small is superior to any man who has come into our lines. His information has been very interesting and portions of it of the most important. The steam is quite an acquisition to the squadron by her good machinery and very light draft. Shall continue to employ Small as a pilot on board the planter for inland waters with which he appears to be very familiar. I do not know whether in the view of the government, this vessel will be considered a prize. If so, I respectively submit the claims of the man Small. So basically, he's like, this guy's great. He's going to keep working here. And they get a little bit of prize money for bringing in.
>> Farz: Bringing the ship. Yeah.
>> Taylor: And by the way, this whole. This on when he does this. He's only 23 when he does this, you know. Yeah.
>> Farz: Again, like, times are different. Right. 23 to them is like 40 to us.
>> Taylor: But I mean, he's been through. Been through a lot. So him and his crew do get some of the prize money. It's like $50,000 in today's money for bringing, for bringing the boat over. The Confederate news was like, they got away, but there were white people helping them because it was embarrassing that like, they were able to do it on their own, but obviously it was just disincelt people who were able to. To get free. Smalls would go to D.C. and work to help formerly enslaved people there. Also, when he actually did the stealing of the boat and, and this whole escape, he wasn't. He didn't know how to read and write, but he learned. He would learn, like in the years afterwards how to. How to do those things. He worked. He went to D.C. also talked to Edwin Stanton, who's the secretary of war and was really influential in persuading Lincoln to let formerly enslaved people or black people at all fight. And they soon after assigned the first 5,000 black men to the Union army. So he was like a big part of that. He would. By his own accord. Smalls was in 17 battles of the Civil War. He was a pilot of several boats, one of them called the Crusader.
Small worked to remove sea mines on the Confederate side during the Civil War
He worked to remove some of the sea mines that he had put down on the other side. So the planter, one of its jobs when it was on the Confederate side, was to plant like bombs in the ocean that boats would bump into and explode, you know.
>> Farz: Right.
>> Taylor: And so his job, his job in the Union side was to get rid of those because he knew where they were, which is cool. Kind of like those guys. Remember those weren't those. Didn't you tell me about guys in Japan who were blowing up bombs. Did you tell me that?
>> Farz: I don't think so.
>> Taylor: I feel like I remember at some point, we told. We told a story of men whose jobs were to, like, find bombs and blow them up or. No, that might have been in the newest Godzilla movie.
>> Farz: It's interesting that we've done so many episodes. We literally forget our own episodes at this point.
>> Taylor: I know. No, actually, it was in the Godzilla movie. But I think it's a real job. You know, you blow up. You find bombs and you blow them up.
>> Farz: Yeah, of course.
>> Taylor: So he did that. He did get to use the planter again, which is so fun. He got to be captain of it for real. But they're obviously like, it's not perfect. He was the captain of the planter, but it was, like, murky. He got paid, but it's not clear if he was really part of the United States Navy. Later he would try to get a Navy pension, and they were like, well, we're not really sure. And it took an act of Congress in 1897 to finally give him his pension. But again, that was like, 30 years later, you know, so it's like, fight for that.
>> Farz: That's insane lobbying.
>> Taylor: I know. In 1863, the planter almost surrendered. They were kind of stuck in the middle of a battle. But Small said, absolutely not. We got to fight our way out of this. Because if my crew get sent back to the south, like, worse, we're f*****. We can't. We're not doing it. So they were able to get out of that later. The planter would sink under different command. On March 25, 1876. Small said it was like losing a member of his family in the 2020 something. They said that they found the remains of the planter at the bottom of the ocean. You know, like all the shipwrecks that are down there. But maybe. Maybe it was down there. So the war is in May. In May 19. In May 1864, the war is almost over. Smalls becomes an unofficial delegate to the Republican National Convention in Baltimore. And now the war is over. It's April 1865. Smalls goes back to South Carolina. He goes back to Beaufort. He buys the house of the guy who had enslaved him and his family. The taxes hadn't been paid, and he was able to buy it and keep it and have his mother live there. So he was able to have his mother live at the house where she had been enslaved her whole life and, you know, just lived there normally. He did let the widow of his enslaver live there when she was older as well. Which is nice. He didn't have to do that. He works on his own literacy. He builds a school, he starts businesses. He invested in horse drawn railways, which is like a trolley with a horse and it looks wild. It's like a huge trolley. The horse is a go around town. He owned a newspaper just like doing good stuff there. And then he started the South Carolina Carolina Republican Party. And some things that he said about the Republican Party. It's said, quote, the party of Lincoln which unshackled the necks of our 4 million human beings. And then just to talk about politics for a second in the 1912 presidential, which was a big one much later. That's the one where Wilson won. He was a Democrat and that started World War I. That's the one where TR came back for a third term as a progressive candidate against his like former best friend Taft, who was a Republican. So it was a whole thing. But Wilson won. Before that, Small said, quote, I asked every colored man in the north who has a vote to cast would cast the vote for the regular Republican party and thus bury the Democratic party so deep that there will not be seen even a bubble coming up from the spot where the burial took place.
>> Farz: Jeez.
>> Taylor: Which is fun and, and way harsh. So then Small starts a career in Republican politics. He joined the South Carolina House House of Representatives in 1868. He was a delegate at several RNCs. He was the Vice president of the South Carolina Republican Party. He was. In 1873, he was an appointed lieutenant colonel of a third regiment, South Carolina State Militia, which is wild. In 1874 he went national. He was elected to Congress's 5th district, later the 7th district after some gerrymandering. But in South Carolina he did put up a bill to let men join the army with no distinction on race. But that wasn't brought for a vote.
>> Farz: What does that mean?
>> Taylor: Like just they, the, the. The U.S. army is going to be segregated like well into World War II. He was just trying to say like.
>> Farz: Let'S do okay, okay. No distinction to. As in don't consider race.
Robert Smalls was active in politics during the Civil War and afterward
Okay, got it.
>> Taylor: Okay.
>> Farz: Sorry, I misunderstood.
>> Taylor: Yeah, but that, that didn't count for a vote. But he was there, so he was in D.C. he's a congressman. In 1877 there was a controversy. Some Democrats accused him of election fraud because he took a printing contract. He's also a printer, but they pardoned him and he wasn't convicted of anything. He was in and out of politics, but still very, very active. His Wife passed away in 1883, and later he rem married a woman named Annie Wig. And they had one son. Guess what year that son died in.
>> Farz: It's gonna be insane. It's gonna be, like, 2020.
>> Taylor: It's 1970, but still. Okay, that's still wild, right? Like, this man's son died in 1970. His great, great grandson, Michael B. Moore, ran For South Carolina first congressional in 2024 as a Democrat, but he lost. But, like, still cool. Smalls died of malaria and diabetes on February 23, 1915. He was 75. He's buried in Beaufort, South Carolina. His monument says, quote, my race needs no special defense. For the past history of them in this country proves them to be the equal of any people anywhere. All they need is an equal chance in the battle of life in South Carolina. May 13, it's Robert Smalls Day. And there are lots of monuments and ships and such named after him, of course.
>> Farz: And I'm gonna have to do a lookout for that the next time I'm there.
>> Taylor: Yeah, you should. Oh, yeah. Send me some pictures when you. I'm sure you'll like. Now that, you know, I feel like you'll notice, you know, it's hard to.
>> Farz: Know who is who. There's monuments everywhere. It's like. I don't. When I was in London, I was just like, do I care about this person? Do I not? Like. So anyways, yeah, no, totally. This guy lived a lot. He really packed in a lot in those 75 years.
>> Taylor: I mean, it's. It's wild to, like, be a very active part of the Civil War and then also be active in politics when, like, Wilson's elected president. You know, like, that is the time between the Civil War and World War I is so small. It's like. It feels like such wildly different periods. And, like, for a lot of reasons, it is, but for a lot of reasons, it's not that far between, you know?
>> Farz: Yeah. Yeah. Are you gonna do. Do you have another one teed up for Black History Month?
>> Taylor: No.
>> Farz: Okay. If you need ideas, I would throw on ideas out there. I think it's called Lake Leonard.
>> Taylor: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
>> Farz: This is, like, the fuel of horror story nightmares that I think would be really interesting to cover if you're interested in it. I'm just starting.
>> Taylor: No, I think I will. I think. Yes, I know. I know what you're talking about, and that is a good suggestion.
>> Farz: If you say something about it that's so scary, like, I mean, besides the atrocity of it. Think about it. Today and like, people are like, in there and it's just like, Do y' all know what's underneath you? It's terrifying.
>> Taylor: There is. I think maybe we said this as well, right? I'm googling. There is a really good movie about. A really good horror movie about Deep House. Deep House. Yes. It's so good.
>> Farz: It's so good. And that is so. I. I went down a rabbit hole after I watched Deep House and was like, is there a. Is. Could this even be a thing? And it was like, no, no, it is a thing. It's a whole thing.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: And it's like. And it's. I think it's Georgia. Right?
>> Taylor: Let me, Let me. Let me do it. I'll do it. I'll do it next time.
>> Farz: Okay.
Taylor: I definitely want to watch Deep House again. It's so good. I really was impressed by how good it was
Okay, yeah, whatever. We'll skip. We'll skip past it. We'll fast forward. But in terms of like. Yeah, like a three month things like, that is the one that is the most nightmare fuel for me.
>> Taylor: No, absolutely. It's absolutely wild. I. Yeah, I definitely will. Oh, I definitely want to watch the Deep House again. It's so good.
>> Farz: So good. It's so sweet.
>> Taylor: I really was impressed by how good it was. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I definitely will. And. Yeah, that's a good one. I mean, there's so many. Obviously. There's millions of stories that we can tell for a Black history month.
>> Farz: I know, but you only have one more episode.
>> Taylor: It's true. I know. I'm feeling a little bit. I'm feeling lighter this year because I'm like, oh, my God, I only have two episodes for like, all these different months, you know? But, yeah, I'm excited and. Oh, what did you mean? What did you just say? That reminded me of something. Something you said reminded me of heated rivalry. I can't remember what it was.
>> Farz: Georgia. I don't know.
>> Taylor: I don't know. But I wanted to tell you something about Heat rivalry, but I forgot. Yeah, cool. That's my story. It's great. I'd love to watch that movie because it's super fun to be like, oh, we're sticking past this, these, this thing, and, you know, just getting out of there and getting the family out of there and just moving on to success and helping people learn how to read and so all the things. It's so great.
>> Farz: I agree with you. I will say that with all those, like, I don't know, I'm probably not the target demographic, but with all those movies that are, like, based in that timeline with that kind of like an overarching Theme. They're all like, sad, and it's like, cancel. Get Michael Bay to direct this. That feels appropriate. Seriously, I'd be into that. I'm not gonna go spend two, three hours to be sad. Why do that? Why bother?
>> Taylor: No, I definitely don't watch that movie. It's like, I know. You have not seen Gone with the Wind, have you?
>> Farz: What do you think?
>> Taylor: So the first half of Gone with the Wind is so fun. It's like, blah, blah. And then all of a sudden it gets real sad. I'm like, I want to watch, like, I've gone through wind. It is too sad. But of course, like, these, like, movies about the war is going are going to be super sad. But this is like a winner story that you need like a winner story sometimes, you know?
>> Farz: Yeah. Anybody in Hollywood listening? Get Michael Bay on this.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: Be fun.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: Well, we need some Taylor. Thank you for sharing. That was. That was. It is a feel good story. It actually is a feel good story.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: So, yeah, it's exciting, you know?
>> Taylor: You know, you're. I mean, imagine how scary that would be. You know, like, you have your family on a boat and you're. You've got to get past a thing and you can very, very quickly get shot and killed and your whole family will die.
>> Farz: Yeah, it's badass.
>> Taylor: Yeah. So it's super cool. And then getting there and then being like, h***, yeah, keep happening your boat. Keep doing.
>> Farz: Yeah, that's fun.
>> Taylor: You know, like, that's super cool as well. And like, of course there's like, you know, things happen. Like, it's not perfect. And there's stuff with his rank and stuff with his money and all those things. But. But he did manage to save a bunch of people, which is super cool. Yeah.
>> Farz: Yeah.
>> Taylor: He bought his house too. And that's fun.
Yeah. Very cool. Well, thank you for sharing. Mine's not a feel good story, actually
>> Farz: Yeah. We're gonna call this a feel good story of. Well, mine's that. Mine's not a feel good story, actually. Yeah. We'll call this a film.
>> Taylor: Okay. It's an event. It's an adventure. A fun.
>> Farz: It's an adventure. Yes.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: Yes. Very cool. Very cool. Well, thank you for sharing.
Taylor: Black Phone 2 is unequivocally one of the worst movies I've seen
Do we have anything to lead off with?
>> Taylor: I do. Someone on. On YouTube, on one of our episodes, I had mentioned that my daughter went to girl scout camp up in the mountains and someone commented that they went to that girl scout camp, like 50 years, which was really fun too. They just, like, happened to be listening to our story and we're like, oh, I also went to that girl camp.
>> Farz: You just reminded me because it's like the same theme of Black Phone 2.
>> Taylor: Oh, I didn't see Black Phone 2 or 1.
>> Farz: Okay, Black Phone 1 was pretty good. Black Phone 2, it's all about like finding like this 50 year old winter camp that kids go, whatever your story, what you just said, remind me of that. It is unequivocally one of the worst movies I've ever seen. The dialogue, the. The story, the like, it's so stupid. It's really stupid. It's one of the worst movies. Like definitively. I can't think of a worst movie I've seen. Like, I even like 45 minutes to an hour in when there was still like time to go and I was already like. I was like, I've invested all this time, might as well finish it. I was like, I can't do it. I can't finish this.
>> Taylor: Wow.
>> Farz: It's garbage. So.
>> Taylor: Oh, that's a bummer.
>> Farz: Skip it. Skip it.
>> Taylor: I will. I will skip it. Who has time? I last said I watched like the first 15 minutes, the conjuring, just because I like it so much.
>> Farz: Yeah, yeah, do that. Go watch the Conjuring and sub.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: Do we have it? Do we have any listener mail besides that?
>> Taylor: Nope, that's it for now.
>> Farz: Okay.
>> Taylor: Well, I mean, I do, but like, I have to save it for your episode because I can't tell you everything right now.
>> Farz: I know, I know, I know.
>> Taylor: Stop trying to get me to tell you more because I need to spread it out because otherwise I'm saying no in the next one. Fine.
>> Farz: Fine. Well, again, please write to us, let us know your thoughts and say whatever. We're open. Open book here at Doom to failpod gmail dot com. Find us on these socials at Doom to Fail pod. And I think that's it, right?
>> Taylor: Yeah, that's it. Help. Oh, follow us on Instagram. I'll be posting some Olympic stuff and then we have our Olympics episodes coming out in re releases, but you can always find all four of them if you want to learn a little bit more about some of the crazy things that happened at the Olympics. We cover the original Olympics and then the 1936 Berlin Olympics, the. The massacre in Munich, and then also the bombing of the Atlanta Olympics, which is like kind of a nice reminder. Things have never been. Fine.
>> Farz: I'm going. I'm going to touch a lot on that in my next episode.
>> Taylor: Great.
>> Farz: I'm going to touch a lot on that.
>> Taylor: Like sometimes you're like, oh, remember the 90s? And you're like, no, during the 90s there was a bomb at the Atlanta Olympics, so at least. Yeah, we have that.
>> Farz: Yeah. Yeah. Mine's gonna be the 70s and 80s, and trust me, you did not want to live in the 70s and 80s, so.
>> Taylor: Oh, my God.
>> Farz: Anywho. Well, thank you, Taylor. Thanks, everyone, for listening. We'll be back next week. Have a great Super Bowl Sunday and write to us again. Do fallpod@gmail.com. sweet. Thanks. Bye.