Voorhees College

The exhibit, which will be on Voorhees’ campus until March 22, includes visual displays, three dimensional artifacts, such as furniture from the Robert Smalls house in Beaufort, pictures and other memorabilia of Congressman Smalls, his family and his life.  

Also included is a digital photo frame with pictures from the 2004 christening and the 2007 commissioning of the LSV-8 MG Robert Smalls, the largest army transport ship of its kind. The MG Robert Smalls is named for Congressman Smalls who was also commissioned as a Major General in the South Carolina Militia.

The collection has been granted a license to concurrently show Part IV of "Slavery and the Making of America," which depicts the story of Robert Smalls' life from slavery to Congress.  

Robert Smalls was born an enslaved person on April 5, 1839, in a small cottage in Beaufort, S.C. By the time he died in 1915, Smalls had served five terms in the United States Congress.  Smalls will be inducted into the South Carolina Hall of Fame on February 9.

During the grand opening of the exhibit on Feb. 2, two direct descendants of the Smalls’ family will present. Dr. Helen Moore, a great granddaughter, is the curator of the exhibit, and entrepreneur Michael Moore, a great grandson, will be the oral presenter for the evening.