Front row, left to right: Private Eagle Eye, Ed Williams; Lamp Light, Herbert Tayl; 12 Feb, 1919

[supprimé]

On This Day, May 13, 1862, Robert Smalls, an enslaved African American sailor, carried out one of the most daring escapes of the American Civil War.

Smalls secretly took control of the Confederate transport ship:

CSS Planter
While the white officers were ashore in Charleston, South Carolina, Smalls and the enslaved crew disguised themselves as Confederate sailors and successfully sailed the ship past heavily armed Confederate checkpoints during the night.

To avoid suspicion, Smalls wore the captain’s uniform and used the correct military signals while passing through Confederate defenses.

The Escape
After escaping Confederate waters, Smalls steered the ship toward Union naval forces and surrendered the vessel to the following:

⚓ United States Navy
On board the ship were:
enslaved crew members,
their families,
and valuable Confederate weapons and military intelligence.

The Union quickly commissioned the ship as:

USS Planter
Robert Smalls later became the first Black man to command a United States military vessel.

Historical Significance
Smalls became a national hero and later served as:
a Union Navy pilot,
a politician,
and a U.S. Congressman after the Civil War.

His courage and intelligence turned an escape from slavery into one of the most remarkable acts of the Civil War era.

Since 2023, the state of South Carolina has celebrated Robert Smalls Day every May 13.

A stolen ship that changed one man’s life and made history.

#history #historyfacts #robertsmalls #blackhistory

From Baltimore local news:

>As many as 300 children died in state custody and were buried nearby.

>The marker represents a profound recognition, a historical rescue of the truth about racist incarceration of children, some as young as 5, who were forced into labor and endured abuse and neglect between 1870 and 1961.

>"It was privately run, state-supported and a segregated institution," Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said at a ceremony Wednesday. "The boys were contracted out of labor here. They were whipped and beaten. Their humanity taken away from them…"

>A ledger contains many of the boys' names and circumstances while under lease to farmers and subjected to forced labor. They were struck with three-ply leather whips, rubber hoses and wooden clubs for unruly behavior.

NBC Washington:

>…many of the boys died from disease or natural causes. But at least two did not.

>"They had frostbite and their legs were amputated after horrible neglect,"

>…at least 230 children are buried in the woods… there could be many more, including some possible mass graves.

>Some members of the Black Caucus live a few miles from the graveyard — and never knew it existed.

Earlier article by University of Maryland’s journalism school:

>A 10-year-old dead of exhaustion. More than a dozen dead from pneumonia. About 100 youths succumbed to tuberculosis.

>At the former House of Correction at Jessup… Two of those [buried] were newborns.

>Exhaustion was cited as a contributing cause for nine deaths involving some boys who had not reached puberty. James Tilghman, age 11, died of “cardiac dilation” and exhaustion in 1909.

A reminder of current prisons born of racism:

>the Jessup facility opened in 1879 and was the second prison established in Maryland. …an extension of the facility, now named Jessup Correctional Institution, still operates as a prison.

Notice the difference in naming for black and white facilities:

>The House of Reformation and House of Refuge operated as segregated, privately run reformatories for “delinquent” boys, and were supported by local and state funds. The House of Refuge…opened exclusively for white youth

>Leaders at the House of Reformation, House of Refuge and House of Correction physically abused youths in custody. All three facilities instituted variations of a convict leasing system, contracting out boys to work around the state under the guise of vocational reform.

>Despite some similarities, clear disparities persisted between the House of Reformation and the House of Refuge, including funding, educational opportunities and institutional conditions, 

>Many of the boys also had venereal diseases, according to a 1935 grand jury report from the Criminal Court of Baltimore City. [This might sound baffling but makes more sense in context of current sexual abuse lawsuits at Maryland’s detention centers.]

>“virtual slavery, peonage and a chain gang.” The institution forced boys to work six days a week for contractors around Maryland to help pay for the costs of the reformatory.

>Smaller boys worked in on-site factories for broom making, shoe repair or chair caning…

>Some boys were “paroled to service,” meaning they were forced to exclusively work for private families until they were 21 years old. This practice was not found in facilities for white youth,

The piece says boys got sent to the House of Reformation for no crime. Some went for "incorrigibility," inadequate adult supervision, homelessness, and being "feeble-minded" (intellectually disabled.)

Much like the Washington Post says (no paywall):

>The most common reasons for detention were “incorrigibility,” “stealing” and “vagrancy,” records show, and the teens and boys were malnourished and faced unsanitary conditions.

The article says the state didn't keep track of the death toll, which keeps rising with the Post's new research last year. Also:

>While many of the boys’ death certificates listed disease as their cause of death, news reports from the time call into question those determinations.

>…about 100 graves marked only by cinder blocks.

>Just before he died, a sickly Bloe told a cook and a steward at the hospital that his teacher had struck him in the back with a hatchet, according to a Baltimore Sun story at the time. The teacher admitted to “playing” with the boy and was fired from the facility. But no coroner examined Bloe’s body before it was buried, according to the Sun, and a postmortem report said no injuries were found.

Another Post article::

>About 250 Black children and teens were admitted annually… 

>Established as a privately run corporation… the reform school would eventually include a sprawling campus with a farm on which the children worked, a two-story factory, a hospital, classrooms and living quarters…

>Aside from Alabama, the state charges more children as adults per capita than any other in the nation.

The Post also reported efforts to identify the dead and inform current living relatives.

The ongoing brutality of such places

Maryland recently passed a law to remove statute of limitations and increase the liability cap for victims of child sex abuse at state facilities (including schools and foster homes.) Over 12,000 people filed claims. It could cost the state billions, like what happened in Los Angeles. That would hurt state finances, and leads to a dilemma where justice for victims worsens inequality. A number of states face such lawsuits across the country.

One of these suits in Maryland, from AP:

>Among the plaintiffs in Thursday’s complaint is a woman who said she was only 7 when she endured abuse at Thomas J.S. Waxter Children’s Center in 1992. According to the complaint, an abusive staff member commented that she was the youngest girl in the unit and promised to “protect her in exchange for compliance with the abuse.” …plaintiffs said their abusers offered them extra food, phone calls, time outside and other rewards. Others said they received threats of violence, solitary confinement, longer sentences and transfer to harsher facilities.

Baltimore Beat has more details from other suits, and it mentions:

>To this day, Black children make up 77% of all detained youth in Maryland, though they account for only 30% of the state’s youth population.

All this brings to mind an old Black spiritual, Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child (Jazmine Sullivan's version for Elvis movie). There’s a newer song that's like the other side to this spiritual, about the love a Black mom has for her son. A more optimistic future: Mama's Hand by Queen Naija.