42: The Daring Escape of Robert Smalls (Part 1)

An Old Timey Podcast

True Crime, History, Comedy

4.9 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 19 February 2025

⏱️ 104 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As an enslaved man, Robert Smalls had one goal – to attain freedom for himself and his family. The odds were against him. He’d hoped to buy his wife and children from their enslaver, but saving that amount of money might take a lifetime. Then, when Robert’s home state of South Carolina seceded from the Union, freedom seemed even more out of reach. But then Robert got an idea. It would be bold. It would be dangerous. It would also require the cooperation, discretion, and skill of several other enslaved people.

The craziest part? It worked.

Remember, kids, history hoes always cite their sources! For this episode, Norm pulled from:
Lineberry, Cate. Be Free or Die: The Amazing Story of Robert Smalls’ Escape from Slavery to Union Hero. St. Martin’s Press, 2017.
Miller Jr., Edward. Gullah Statesman: Robert Smalls from Slavery to Congress, 1839-1915. University of South Carolina Press, 2008.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hear you, hear ye.
0:02.1	You are listening to an old-timey podcast.
0:05.2	I'm Norman Caruso.
0:06.5	And smack my ass and call me sassy.
0:09.4	It's Kristen Caruso.
0:11.3	Maybe later tonight.
0:12.4	And on this episode, I'll be talking about the daring escape of Robert Smalls.
0:17.5	Who the hell?
0:18.6	Mm.
0:19.2	You're in for a real treat, Kristen.
0:21.0	I'm excited.
0:22.4	Why? Just because I use the words daring escape.
0:24.6	Well, I'm also excited because I have no idea what you're talking about.
0:28.1	You've been very secretive.
0:30.0	As I usually am.
0:31.3	And I want to know what this Bobby Smalls guy is up to. Is it okay if I call him Bobby?
0:35.9	He didn't go by Bobby.
0:38.7	Oh, okay. well, fine.
0:47.2	I guess you're probably thinking I should do a Patreon plug right now, huh? Yeah. Well, let me get there.
0:58.2	Everyone, I've got big news. This is news to me, too. What do you got? Last week, our friend Tim told us about a wonderful device that he had recently purchased.
1:02.6	It was one of those camera-in-the-ear cleaner devices.
1:03.3	Oh, yeah.
	...

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