Did you know that eighty-eight years before Rosa Parks s historic protest, a courageous black woman in Charleston kept her seat on a segregated streetcar? What about Robert Smalls, who steered a Confederate warship into Union waters, freeing himself and some of his family, and later served in the South Carolina
state legislature? In this inspiring collection, historian Damon L. Fordham relates story after story of notable black South Carolinians, many of whose contributions to the state s history have not been brought to light until now. From the letters of black soldiers during the Civil War to the impassioned pleas by students of Munro s School for their right to an education, these are the voices of protest and dissent, the voices of hope and encouragement and the voices of progress."

Damon Fordham is the author of True Stories of Black South Carolina and the co-author of Born to Serve: History of the WEMBC. He has worked as a docent at Drayton Hall, Boone Hall Plantation, and Historic Columbia Foundation. Currently, he teaches American History and African American History at Charleston Southern University and Springfield College in North Charleston. He has also taught history at The College of Charleston. He has close ties with The Avery Research Center, and he has served as president of the Charleston chapter of the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History.