273_February 2nd_ African American statue

[Jessica]

Robert Smalls, who was born into slavery, spent a decade in the U.S. House and helped rewrite South Carolina's constitution to allow black men equality after the Civil War.

NOw a group studying where to put the first Statehouse monument to an individual African American, has decided that Small's statue should be staring down that of white supremacist and former state governor, "Pitchfork" Ben Tilman, who in 1895 helped wipe out the black man's right to vote.

Now that the Robert Smalls Monument commission has unanimously approved the proposal, it'll go to the state General Assembly.

I'm Donna Warder.