Basil Watson’s portrait of Civil War hero Robert Smalls will soon grace the visitors’ entrance of the South Carolina State House in Columbia, SC. Smalls, who escaped slavery on a Confederate steamship and later served in the Statehouse and Congress, will be the first individual Black person recognized on the Statehouse grounds. The monument will sit atop a base and include panels with biographical information and a quote from a speech Smalls gave during South Carolina’s 1895 constitutional convention. Sculpture committee members are hoping to have the bronze installed by July 2026 for the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution.