A bipartisan legislative panel on Wednesday picked the artist and location for the future Robert Smalls statue on the Capitol grounds, what will be the first monument to an individual African American on the South Carolina Statehouse complex.
Lawmakers chose Jamaican-born, Georgia-based sculptor Basil Watson to design the statue. Watson's work in the state includes a bust of teacher and Civil Rights activist Septima Clark at historically Black university Benedict College in Columbia, and a memorial marking desegregation at the University of South Carolina on the campus Horseshoe downtown.
State Rep. Brandon Cox, the Berkeley Republican who was the lead sponsor of the bill to erect a monument to Smalls and a member of the Robert Smalls Monument Commission, said of the artists considered that Watson's proposal was "the most fitting" to be displayed on the grounds.
The commission said Watson's proposal was more in line with other individual statues on the Statehouse grounds. Treating Smalls' statue the same will show he is an historical equal, they said.
"I feel honored and blessed to have the opportunity to contribute in this way, and for the recognition for my skill and hard work is also rewarding," Watson told SC Public Radio.
A Beaufort native, Smalls was a former slave who rose to become a Civil War hero, a state lawmaker, a U.S. congressman and delegate to the South Carolina state convention, where he helped rewrite the state Constitution.
For the location, the panel chose to put Smalls' statue in an area close to the Capitol's visitor's entrance, easily visible by anyone, such as school children on field trips, crossing the front of the Statehouse grounds.
State Rep. Jermaine Johnson, D-Richland, explained that a tree branch fell on that patch of ground in fall 2022. When crews went to remove it, he said they found an owl's nest. Johnson said they let the branch stay, until in April 2023 it was determined the owl left.
"Whether the clearing of that patch of land was coincidence, ... whether this might have been divine intervention in preparation of this, I'm going to let you all decide on that," said Johnson, who co-sponsored the Smalls bill and also sits on the commission.
Now the panel must fundraise.
Cox told reporters that no donation is too small for such an important marker.
They want to raise at least $5 million, he said.
"This isn't going to be done haphazardly," Cox said. "Two hundred years from now when you're looking at the Statehouse grounds, that statue will still be up there."
As far as the date for completion? Cox said he loves the idea of July 4, 2026 — the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
