Gullah Statesman

"In 1862 Robert Smalls and his slave crew commandeered the Confederate vessel Planter, sailed it from Charleston harbor, and delivered it to the Union blockade. He was subsequently appointed captain in the Union army and participated in military campaigns along the South Carolina coast. These military achievements were parlayed into post-Civil War leadership; Gullah Statesman traces Smalls's rise and decline as a South Carolina political leader. . . . This is a useful political biography revealing the rise and declension of political opportunity, not just for an individual but for an entire race."—Journal of American History

"Gullah Stateman is an extremely well documented and informative biography of Robert Smalls, the African-American Civil War hero and Reconstruction-era politician from South Carolina. Miller's work constitutes a significant addition to the fields of Southern, African American, and Civil War history."—Mississippi Quarterly

"Miller has marshaled an impressive array of primary sources. . . . It is unlikely that anyone will soon surpass this level of comprehensiveness."—American Historical Review

"The strength of Gullah Statesman is the author's attention to political detail. Miller provides valuable examination of the South Carolina political situation during Radical Reconstruction, Conservative Redemption, and Democratic Supremacy. . . . The book is a valuable contribution to the scholarship on blacks in the post-Reconstruction era."—H-Net Reviews