Archive: Feb 2022

By Mark R. Jones Anyone who has strolled Charleston’s quaint streets and hidden alleys has felt the faint echo of a more serene era, removed from the bustle of today’s America. For anyone interested in nineteenth-century Charleston culture Jane Austen’s novels (Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Emma) are accurate guideposts. With Valentine’s Day as…

by Mark R. Jones Robert Smalls was born into slavery in 1839 in Beaufort, S.C, in the home of Henry McKee, a cotton planter.  The surname “Smalls” was most likely chosen by Robert after his emancipation. His mother, Lydia, was a house slave for the McKee family. In comparison to other circumstances, the McKees were…