"Yearning to Breathe Free: Robert Smalls of South Carolina and His Families" by Andrew Billingsley

Wow.

That's what I always say when I read about Robert Smalls.  Or think about him.  Or talk about him.  Wow.  What an amazing human being.

Born into slavery in Beaufort, SC, Robert Smalls grew up privileged by slavery standards, oppressed by free ones.  He was a "house slave" as a child, then allowed to hire out as a young man to learn carpentry and shipbuilding, eventually becoming a skilled pilot for boats and even ships in the Charleston waterways.  He and his mother were "kindly" treated by their masters and mistresses... and yet, they were still slaves.  Just because they weren't beaten or sold away from each other, that didn't mean they weren't conscious every minute of the wrongness of their slavery.

And that is why, when the Civil War broke out and the Union Navy blockaded Charleston Harbor, Robert Smalls concocted a daring plan.  He and some fellow slaves commandeered the Planter, a fast steamship that Smalls worked aboard.  They sneaked their families aboard and boldly steamed right past all the Confederate defenses, including multiple forts, and reached the Union blockade and freedom unharmed.  

That's what Robert Smalls is most remembered for today, and I read all abut that in the book Be Free or Die by Cate Lineberry a couple years ago.  So why did I also read Yearning to Breathe Free?  Because I wanted to know more!  Because I knew that Robert Smalls's remarkable life didn't end with him snatching his family away from slavery, an I wanted to know more.

And, thanks to this book, now I do!  I know things like the fact that Robert Smalls conversed and corresponded with Booker T. Washington and Frederick Douglass.  He met with President Lincoln.  He led naval forces against the Confederates and rose quickly up the military ranks.  He was instrumental in convincing the government that they needed to enlist freedmen in their army.  After the war, he became active in local, state, and national politics and served several terms in Congress.

He also was an involved and loving husband, father, stepfather, and grandfather.  He was active in his local church.  And he was a successful businessman.  Not only that, but he was a kind and forgiving Christian who actually took in and cared for his former owner when she was an elderly woman living on charity.  Can there be any question why I would find Robert Smalls to be such an amazing and heroic person?  If you created a fictional character with all these qualities who went on all these exploits, readers would call them unrealistic.  No way could one person be that cool and do that many astonishing things.  And yet, Robert Smalls really was and really did.

Andrew Billingsley is a professor of sociology and African American studies, and his book definitely leans toward the sociological.  He explores the importance of family and community in the life of Robert Smalls, which I found really interesting because I do enjoy studying sociology.  Some people might find those parts of this book to be dry, but I did not.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  PG-13 for non-detailed discussions of life under slavery, which do include things like whippings, beatings, children born out of wedlock, and lynchings.  These are presented fairly academically, but might be too much for children.

This is my third book read off my TBR shelves for #TheUnreadShelfProject2022.