Why didnt we learn about Robert Smalls in school?

Robert Smalls was an enslaved Black man who stole a Confederate ship during the Civil War, freed his family and crew, delivered the ship to Union forces, and later became a United States Congressman during Reconstruction. Yet his name is rarely taught in American classrooms.

In this explainer episode, journalist and storyteller Esther Dillard examines why Robert Smalls story was left out of textbooks, how Reconstruction was later reframed as a failure, and how Black political leadership was pushed out of the national memory.

This episode connects Smalls life to a broader pattern of historical erasure and asks why stories about Black citizenship, democracy, and power remain contested today.

This audio explainer accompanies the animated short documentary ERASED: The Robert Smalls Story and invites listeners to rethink what American history chooses to rememberand what it leaves out.