Escaped slave who became lawmaker will be first individual African American honored with statue at South Carolina State House

Inside an Atlanta art studio, artist Basil Watson is crafting a statue of Robert Smalls, a Civil War hero and former slave, to be placed at the South Carolina State House. This landmark statue, a first for honoring an individual African American on the Capitol grounds, symbolizes Smalls’ journey from slavery to statesmanship and reflects a bipartisan effort to acknowledge African American history.