I work in Beaufort County, in coastal South Carolina. The surname Smalls, with an "S", is well-known among African-Americans here.
posted by mareli at 10:42 AM on February 18, 2013 [1 favorite]

Smalls is also an excellent jazz dive in NYC.

I like how in the comments in this blog post, a guy from Charleston (with a string of letters after his name from top universities) turns up, who has been researching the story from the US perspective, as he thinks his ancestor's plantation was a scene in the drama.

Gotta love the internet. And coastal South Carolina as well.
posted by C.A.S. at 11:00 AM on February 18, 2013 [1 favorite]

mareli, we had a post about the slave-turned-war-hero Robert Smalls just a few days ago!
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:19 AM on February 18, 2013

Wow, they stood at the crossroads of history on two continents. And all because of simple human kindness.
posted by tommasz at 1:27 PM on February 18, 2013

Also, this story is very cool, thank you for posting it! It's always a haunting irony that the formerly enslaved people who made it to Europe in one way or another were so visible, and so comparatively well documented , in contrast to the lives of the vast population in the US whose lives were so underdocumented.
posted by LobsterMitten at 3:24 PM on February 18, 2013 [1 favorite]

Great story. Thanks for posting, Diablevert.
posted by homunculus at 3:35 PM on February 18, 2013

I had No. Idea. that Lord Edward Fitz-Gerald was 1. Ever in the British Army.. 2. Ever in what is now the U.S. and Mr. Smalls was news to me as well. Fascinating! Thanks for this post!
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 5:35 PM on February 18, 2013