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Biography of Founder Kitt Haley Alexander
Robert Smalls' Legacy Foundation
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
On May 13, 1862, Robert Smalls, a mulatto slave pilot employed
by the Confederates, became the most significant black Civil War
hero for commandeering Planter, a rebel transport vessel loaded
with armaments, from Charleston. With his wife, children and 12
other slaves on board he gave the correct whistle signal as he passed
each rebel fort in the harbor. He then headed for the nearest Union
blockading ship and surrendered. Union press hailed Smalls as a
national hero and called Planter “the first trophy from Fort
Sumter.”
In 1863, Smalls became the first black captain of a U.S. vessel
after an act of bravery under fire. After the war, he became a South
Carolina state legislator and participated in drafting the constitution
of the state in which he had been born a slave. He was a major general
in the state’s militia and served five terms in the U.S. Congress.
For nearly 20 years he was U.S. Collector of Customs in Beaufort,
S.C. where he lived as owner in the house in which he had been a
slave.
Smalls’ gallantry in delivering Planter to Union forces,
his subsequent heroic wartime exploits, his distinguished career
of public service, and his stalwart dedication to the cause of liberty
and equality are well documented. However, because his story did
not continue to be told aloud, he regrettably has been lost from
the collective consciousness of the nation he served so faithfully
and so well.
By overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles and by his lifelong
devotion to his people and his nation, Smalls became the embodiment
of the American spirit and the epitome of the American dream. He
can serve as a powerful inspirational figure for Americans. Restoring
him to national acclaim will enrich our cultural tapestry and highlight
the critical role oral history plays in preserving our collective
memories.
Using Smalls’ story as a model, our organization is establishing
The Humble Onions National Children’s Oral History Project,
a multi-disciplinary program. The project will join the arts and
the humanities, the young with the old, and rural children with
inner-city youth.
Participation in The Humble Onions Project can provide children
of all races and backgrounds with an invaluable perspective on the
rich cultural diversity which developed our nation. This insight
can also prepare them to champion cultural inclusiveness as our
national identity evolves in the next generations.
Vision
The foundation envisions a more equitable, inclusive, compassionate
and caring civil American society.
Mission
• Disseminate the story of Robert Smalls to provide an example
of the importance of oral history in creating and maintaining our
nation’s collective consciousness.
• Establish The Humble Onions National Children’s Oral
History Project to encourage an appreciation of our nation’s
past and its rich cultural diversity.
• Provide children of all socio-economic backgrounds a tangible
perspective on how we, as a nation and as individuals, came to where
we are, so they can lead us, together, toward where we’re
going.
Goals
1. Reintroduce Robert Smalls to America as a national hero and statesman:
• Create teaching materials on Smalls.
• Develop multi-disciplinary curricula incorporating the use
of oral history.
• Produce a documentary video on Smalls and the oral history
tradition for schools.
• Provide seminars on The Humble Onions Project at schools
and cultural institutions across the country.
• Hold an annual Humble Onions Project conference.
• Hold commemorative events in Charleston, S.C. annually to
celebrate Smalls’ commandeering the Confederate steamship
Planter and surrendering it to the Union blockading squadron.
• Enlist national corporations to feature Smalls in Black
History Month promotional materials annually.
• Petition the U.S. military to name a naval vessel for Smalls.
• Petition the U.S. Postal Service to issue a Robert Smalls
stamp for its Black Heritage series.
• Produce a three-part documentary series for television.
• Travel the photographic exhibition, Legacy, The Life and
Descendants of Robert Smalls, Hero and Statesman, to cultural and
educational institutions.
• Acquire original Smalls and Planter artifacts to include
as part of the Legacy photographic exhibition.
• Acquire and preserve the Robert Smalls house and the house
he built on the property as a retreat for artists and scholars.
2. Establish The Humble Onions National Children’s Oral History
Project to:
• Promote the active examination, understanding and celebration
of cultural and ethnic diversity.
• Enliven America’s recent past through hands-on learning
and activities to provide children a sense of connection with their
own ancestors and with each other.
• Preserve American social history and celebrate local heroes.
• Create partnerships among schools nationwide to foster communication
between students of disparate backgrounds.
• Enhance family, community and national cohesion and pride
by providing a sense of commonality among diverse ethnic and cultural
groups.
• Encourage family and community involvement in genealogical
research, oral history collection and creative interpretation.
• Provide descendents of slaves with reason to feel pride
in their ancestors as survivors, as they contributed to the development
of our nation without reaping its benefits.
• Cultivate reverence for the elderly by providing them opportunities
for meaningful dialogue and relationships with children.
• Provide elders with opportunities to express and preserve
their memories, wisdom and perspective on America’s past.
• Foster participation in the arts and the humanities as means
for self-discovery and personal expression
by visual illustration, performance, and creation of narrative poetry,
stories, songs and plays.
• Create opportunities for sharing these creations among diverse
communities.
• Teach critical thinking by stimulating examination of concepts
such as truth vs. belief, hero vs. celebrity.
• Assist immigrant children in assimilating in our society
while maintaining their cultural identities.
• Foster partnerships with historical societies, libraries,
businesses, cultural and religious organizations.
• Foster the establishment of community repositories for oral
history collections.
• Incorporate the use of technology for research and communication.
• Encourage volunteerism.
• Inspire children to make their lives stand for something
larger than the self by contributing
to the common good.
• Promote grassroots leadership development.
• Cultivate citizenship, individual responsibility and the
development of sound moral and ethical character.
• Foster peace, social justice, cultural inclusion, civility,
and compassion.
Annual conference to include lectures and workshops on:
• Conducting and documenting oral history interviews
• Conducting genealogical research
• Creative writing of oral history
• Visual illustration of oral history
• Documentary photography
• Storytelling
• Bookmaking
• Archival preservation of photographs, documents, etc.
3. Develop materials to support goals 1 and 2.
• Produce curricula and educational materials on Robert Smalls
and the oral history tradition.
• Produce books, pamphlets, videotapes, t-shirts, postcards,
note cards, calendars, posters, photographic prints, etc. on Robert
Smalls, the oral history tradition and The Humble Onions Project.
• Produce a newsletter.
• Maintain a web site featuring information on Smalls, genealogy,
oral history and The Humble Onions Project.
• Produce poster editions of the Legacy exhibition.
• Develop educational materials for the following:
1. Schools, K-12, +
2. Military
3. Businesses
4. Religious organizations
5. Cultural organizations
6. Government officials
7. Historical societies
8. Media
9. Individual donors
10. Institutional donors
4. Create a self-sustaining financial infrastructure in support
of goals.
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