Charleston Harbor is a historic drama about an enslaved African American named Robert Smalls, who, during and after the American Civil War, gained freedom and became a ship's pilot, sea captain, and politician. He freed himself, his crew and their families from slavery on May 13, 1862, by commandeering a Confederate transport ship, CSS Planter, in Charleston Harbor, and sailing it from Confederate-controlled waters to the U.S. blockade.—Louis Brown