One balmy, Charleston night in May of 1862, an act of such bravery was carried out that it would turn the perpetrator into a propaganda sensation and a national celebrity (depending on whose side you were on). This is the story of Robert Smalls, a man who went from slavery to the senate in the 19th century South. Also this week, Violet reads out a letter from a terrible person and a poem that gives Jim cluster headaches.

Yesterday's Chip Paper is a bimonthly (or so) podcast that delves into historic newspapers to find true stories from columns gone by, be they inspiring, bizarre or completely outrageous. Your hosts, Violet and Jim, are amateur researchers with a love for old newspapers and telling each other what we've found in them, and every couple of weeks we get together to do just that. From hunger artists to fox sanctuaries, bicycle murders to mutinies, anything could come up.

Newspaper archives used in this episode:

Newspapers.com www.newspapers.com/

British Newspaper Archive www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/

Papers Past (National Library of New Zealand) https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers

More on Robert Smalls:

PBS http://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/which-slave-sailed-himself-to-freedom/

Civil War Preservation Trust http://telegraph.civilwar.org/education/curriculum/Gifted%20and%20Talented/CWPT%20Gifted%20Curriculum%20-%20Robert%20Smalls.pdf

 

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