2 South Carolina Legislators Call for Monument to Black Civil War Hero

[TomSea]

2 South Carolina Legislators Call for Monument to Black Civil War Hero

COLUMBIA, S.C. —

A call to honor a black Civil War hero with a monument at the South Carolina Statehouse grounds, onetime epicenter of a groundswell movement to rid communities of Confederate symbols, is being made by two lawmakers in a bid to encourage consensus-building in a nation divided by the issue.

Two state senators — a black Democrat and a white Republican — announced their proposal Wednesday to memorialize Robert Smalls, who in 1862 hijacked a Confederate supply ship he worked on, steered his family to freedom and delivered the ammunition-laden vessel to the Union.

Continued: https://www.voanews.com/a/south-carolina-legislators-seek-monument-black-civil-war-hero/4038001.html