Audiobook8 hours
Be Free or Die: The Amazing Story of Robert Smalls' Escape from Slavery to Union Hero
Written by Cate Lineberry
Narrated by JD Jackson
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
About this 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.
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.
Related to Be Free or Die
Related audiobooks
Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Thunder at the Gates: The Black Civil War Regiments that Redeemed America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Harlem Hellfighters: When Pride Met Courage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Amistad Rebellion: An Atlantic Odyssey of Slavery and Freedom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dark Sky Rising: Reconstruction and the Dawn of Jim Crow (Scholastic Focus) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5After Lincoln: How the North Won the Civil War and Lost the Peace Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Lincoln on the Verge: Thirteen Days to Washington Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5River of Dark Dreams: Slavery and Empire in the Cotton Kingdom Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings38 Nooses: Lincoln, Little Crow, and the Beginning of the Frontier's End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stolen: Five Free Boys Kidnapped into Slavery and Their Astonishing Odyssey Home Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Burning: The Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Last Negroes at Harvard: The Class of 1963 and the 18 Young Men Who Changed Harvard Forever Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Life and Adventures of Nat Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All Blood Runs Red: The Legendary Life of Eugene Bullard-Boxer, Pilot, Soldier, Spy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Denmark Vesey's Garden: Slavery and Memory in the Cradle of the Confederacy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5White Lies: The Double Life of Walter F. White and America's Darkest Secret Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Born in Slavery: Narratives from the WPA Slave Narrative Collection Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Uprising: The Untold Story of America's Largest Slave Revolt Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fires of Jubilee: Nat Turner's Fierce Rebellion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Slave Ship: A Human History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Soul by Soul: Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Slave in the White House: Paul Jennings and the Madisons Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Black Gun, Silver Star: The Life and Legend of Frontier Marshal Bass Reeves Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bound for Canaan: The Epic Story of the Underground Railroad, America's First Civil Rights Movement Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Never Caught Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The American Slave Coast: A History of the Slave-Breeding Industry Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5African Founders: How Enslaved People Expanded American Ideals Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Social Science For You
Behold a Pale Horse Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Song of Achilles: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Demon Copperhead: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Road Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Perfection Trap: Embracing the Power of Good Enough Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Come As You Are: Revised and Updated: The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Left Hand of Darkness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Hunger Games Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Parable of the Sower Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Name of the Wind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, 10th Anniversary Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Own It All: How to Stop Waiting for Change and Start Creating It. Because Your Life Belongs to You. Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Small Mercies: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us about How and When This Crisis Will End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hate U Give Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You're Cute When You're Mad: Simple Steps for Confronting Sexism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Attention Span: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness and Productivity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Overstory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Year of Magical Thinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Radiolab: Journey Through The Human Body Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Be Free or Die
Rating: 4.018518518518518 out of 5 stars
4/5
27 ratings1 review
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The life of Robert Smalls might make an interesting book (or maybe magazine article) but this book tried to cover a lot more than that. Smalls was barely in the book after the two beginning chapters. I wasn't looking for a general book about the Civil War and I gave up at around the 25% point.