By Martha Thwaite Weeks
For The Island News
The 185th birthday of Robert Smalls Birthday was well celebrated April 5, 2024, in Beaufort, as the event sponsored by Reverend Ken Hodges and the Beaufort Republican Women’s Club was a success.
The party began at 11 a.m. in the lecture room of the Tabernacle Baptist Church at 901 Craven Street. Author Rebecca Dwight Bruff, the guest speaker, told guests that when she learned that no book had ever been written about Beaufort’s famous son, she researched the former slave Smalls and wrote her award-winning tribute, “Trouble The Water.”
Under the direction of media instructor Lisa Clancy, students from the Riverview Charter School delighted attendees with their video presentation about the life and accomplishments of Smalls. Following the video, Reverend Hodges spoke about Harriet Tubman and the Combahee River Raid in which hundreds of enslaved people in South Carolina were freed.
Donations were accepted for the Harriet Tubman Memorial Fund, proceeds of which will go to the statue of Tubman that will be placed the Robert Smalls bust in the garden of the historic Tabernacle Baptist Church.
Riverview student Emma Mistic won the drawing for a flight with Beaufort Flight Training.
Beaufort Republican Women’s Club member Jean Sulc accompanied the singing of happy birthday on her cello, while cake and punch were served as the Riverview students mingled with other guests.
