Reconstructing the Past
This fall, I unearthed an insane story as I dove into research for a historical assignment, a fun, new field of reporting for me. Robert Smalls, a slave born in the 1800s, was a deckhand on a Confederate ship during the Civil War. One night, when his white superiors were off cavorting in town, he convinced the rest of the African American crew to steal the ship, which was loaded down with supplies and ammunition; sail it to a wharf to pick up his family and others; and cruise right through Confederate lines and into the Union blockade circling Charleston Harbor. Amazingly, they succeeded in the outrageously daring pre-dawn feat and, in one fell swoop, delivered themselves from slavery to freedom. Smalls became a household name and a hero for the Union. He even helped convince Abraham Lincoln to sign up African American soldiers, whose contributions helped win the Civil War. With his reward money, Smalls eventually bought his former master’s house, which still stands in Beaufort, North Carolina.
Finding that story was part of a very cool assignment reporting on an often maligned, poorly understood, but extremely important era in American history: Reconstruction, the approximately 12-year period of remarkable progressivism after the Civil War. It was a time of such intense progress in terms of civil rights, equality, and social services that many historians call it the second founding of our country. And yet, few know about it. A group of forward-thinking historians and the National Park Service are trying to change that by identifying possible sites for the first national park devoted to Reconstruction. It’s a controversial topic, as you might imagine, and I learned a ton reporting and writing the story for National Parks magazine. Eye-opening to say the least. Check out the story, “A Complicated Past,” on the National Parks magazine website.