OKAY, LET’S TALK ABOUT ROBERT SMALLS (BECAUSE HE HAS A NAME, THANK YOU VERY MUCH).
ANYWAY.
Robert Smalls was born into slavery in 1839 and at the age of 12 his owner leased him out in Charleston, South Carolina. He gravitated towards working at the docks and on boats and eventually became the equivalent of a pilot, and in late 1861 he found himself assigned to a military transport boat named the CSS Planter.
On May 12, 1862, the white officers decided to spend the night on land. Smalls rounded up the enslaved crew and they hatched a plan, and once the officers were long gone they made a run for it, only stopping to pick up their families (who they notified) along the way. Smalls, disguised as the captain, steered the boat past Confederate forts (including Ft. Sumter) and over to the Union blockade, raising a white sheet his wife took from her job as a hotel maid as a flag of truce. The CSS Planter had a highly valuable code book and all manner of explosives on board.
Smalls ended up serving in the Union Navy and rose to the rank of captain there. He was also one of a number of individuals who talked to Abraham Lincoln about the possibility of African-American soldiers fighting for the Union, which became a reality.
After the war, Smalls bought his owner’s old plantation in Beaufort and even allowed the owner’s sickly wife to move back in until her death. He eventually served in the South Carolina House of Representatives (1865-1870), the South Carolina Senate (1871-1874), and the United States House of Representatives (1875-1879) and represented South Carolina’s 5th District from 1882-1883 and the 7th District from 1884-1887. He and other black politicians also fought against an amendment designed to disenfranchise black voters in 1895, but it unfortunately passed.
Smalls ended his public life by serving as U.S. Collector of Customs in Beaufort from 1889-1911. He died in 1915 at the age of 75.
And now you know Robert Smalls.
ROBERT SMALLS!!!
Let me hammer this point down. Slaves running away from plantions fighting for the Union army devastated plantations in terms of labor which weaken the south’s economy and immaculately leaded to the South losing the war. And if it was for Robert Smalls convincing Abraham Lincoln to allow former slaves to fight in the Union army slavery might have not have been abolished.
This man Robert Smalls was the man that ended slavery and we never learned his name in school. I heard about him from an article on cracked.com
… Wow.
Can we get a movie made or something? That would be nice.
As mentioned in my Commission Information, I’m trying to break free from an increasingly toxic relationship I have with my mother. The change in her overall behavior began years ago, when she felt so threatened by my panromantic demisexuality that she emotionally tortured me until I renounced my feelings.
But besides what happened then, her behavior now has reached a point where I am forced to withstand at least one severe panic attack a week, and it is making daily life exhausting and my ability to work nigh impossible.
The particulars of my situation lie under the cut at the bottom of this post.
I do have a plan to help me break free and regain my emotional independence, but it relies heavily on my ability to put together as much of an economic buffer as I can manage in a relatively short amount of time. I need to find an apartment that is better suited to my lifestyle and budget, so I no longer have to rely on my mother for economic support to pay for where I live. I need to obtain a
part-time job at a local store that I can use to supplement my
illustration income – I have already applied to a few laid back stores,
but the process of getting interviewed and hired can take weeks to
months.. and I need my escape to happen as soon as humanly possible to
limit the toxic fallout that is sure to occur. And lastly, I need to
reach out for the support of my followers and friends!
If you want
to help fund me in this endeavor, please know that any money I receive
will be used solely to put together a savings buffer to be used for
apartment deposits, moving costs, self care, and living expenses. I’ve
also set up character art commissions here on Tumblr, so please consider helping me out if you
can afford to.
And, please, if you have ever enjoyed a piece of artwork I
have created in the past or you have shared it with your own friends, know that for
me to continue doing what I love, I need as much help as I can muster
right now to get myself out of this situation.
Even $1 would help!
Below is a Paypal address that I’m using specifically for this end: karinafund@mail.com Also feel free to contact me at this address as well, or send me a message via Tumblr. If you do shoot me an e-mail, please include your Tumblr name in the subject so I can keep track of who is who, thanks. And if you intentionally want to remain anonymous, that is fine as well.
Besides
commissions, I want to share that donations themselves will not go unrewarded in the long-run either. It may take some
time to accomplish and I’ll have to do this after I’ve gotten back onto
my feet, but I’ll thank each and every one of you personally and/or
sketch gifts in return for your help.
If you can’t afford to help me in any monetary sense, I understand completely, but please reblog this to spread the word of my predicament. I can’t hope to get through this alone.
This began as a guide to describing Afro/curly hair but of course, I got carried away. From look and texture of hair, colors and various styles, this guide serves as a thesaurus of sorts for hair, as well as pointers for use in your writing.
