In 1861, Robert Smalls stole a confederate ship and delivered it under cover of darkness to the Union military.
He was given command of that ship. Smalls became a major-general, did well in the world, eventually buying a home. He allowed the lady of that house to remain there when her dementia became apparent, providing for her care. Smalls was elected to the South Carolina state legislature from his hometown of Beaufort, then to the U. S. House of Representatives.
Smalls was responsible for the first free and compulsory state school system in America, among other good deeds.
Smalls was a Republican. Smalls was black. Smalls was a slave, who earned his freedom with that courageous act at the helm of that ship.
Smalls’ owners lived in the house he eventually bought… the house HE had worked in as a slave. The elderly woman he cared for there? His former owner’s wife.