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Be Free or Die

Audiobook
Facing death rather than enslavement-a story of one man's triumphant choice and ultimate rise to national hero. It was a mild May morning in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1862, the second year of the Civil War, when a twenty-three-year-old slave named Robert Smalls did the unthinkable and boldly seized a Confederate steamer. With his wife and two young children hidden on board, Smalls and a small crew ran a gauntlet of heavily armed fortifications in Charleston Harbor and delivered the valuable vessel and the massive guns it carried to nearby Union forces. To be unsuccessful was a death sentence for all. Smalls' courageous and ingenious act freed him and his family from slavery and immediately made him a Union hero while simultaneously challenging much of the country's view of what African Americans were willing to do to gain their freedom. After his escape, Smalls served in numerous naval campaigns off Charleston as a civilian boat pilot and eventually became the first black captain of an Army ship. In a particularly poignant moment Smalls even bought the home that he and his mother had once served in as house slaves.

Expand title description text
Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc. Edition: Unabridged

OverDrive Listen audiobook

  • ISBN: 9781977321480
  • File size: 239687 KB
  • Release date: January 24, 2018
  • Duration: 08:19:20

MP3 audiobook

  • ISBN: 9781977321480
  • File size: 239711 KB
  • Release date: January 24, 2018
  • Duration: 08:21:17
  • Number of parts: 9

Formats

OverDrive Listen audiobook
MP3 audiobook

Languages

English

Facing death rather than enslavement-a story of one man's triumphant choice and ultimate rise to national hero. It was a mild May morning in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1862, the second year of the Civil War, when a twenty-three-year-old slave named Robert Smalls did the unthinkable and boldly seized a Confederate steamer. With his wife and two young children hidden on board, Smalls and a small crew ran a gauntlet of heavily armed fortifications in Charleston Harbor and delivered the valuable vessel and the massive guns it carried to nearby Union forces. To be unsuccessful was a death sentence for all. Smalls' courageous and ingenious act freed him and his family from slavery and immediately made him a Union hero while simultaneously challenging much of the country's view of what African Americans were willing to do to gain their freedom. After his escape, Smalls served in numerous naval campaigns off Charleston as a civilian boat pilot and eventually became the first black captain of an Army ship. In a particularly poignant moment Smalls even bought the home that he and his mother had once served in as house slaves.

Expand title description text
  • Details

    Publisher:
    Tantor Media, Inc.
    Edition:
    Unabridged

    OverDrive Listen audiobook
    ISBN: 9781977321480
    File size: 239687 KB
    Release date: January 24, 2018
    Duration: 08:19:20

    MP3 audiobook
    ISBN: 9781977321480
    File size: 239711 KB
    Release date: January 24, 2018
    Duration: 08:21:17
    Number of parts: 9

  • Creators
  • Formats
    OverDrive Listen audiobook
    MP3 audiobook
  • Languages
    English