Here’s why CBS Sunday Morning was filming at a Beaufort County school this week

A camera crew for CBS Sunday Morning was filming at Robert Smalls International Academy on Wednesday for a segment set to run early next year.

The segment will center around African Americans who served in Congress during Reconstruction, with one of the most notable figures being Beaufort’s Robert Smalls.

Smalls was born into slavery in 1839, and after heroically escaping to freedom in 1862, served five terms in Congress.

“I don’t want to say that these men were forgotten ... but there certainly aren’t statues and monuments to very many of them around the country,” said Mark Hudspeth, a producer for CBS Sunday Morning. “But with Robert Smalls, you can’t come to Beaufort without seeing his name.”

The crew filmed in front of the school Wednesday as students arrived and in front of a hallway mural of Smalls as students walked between classes. While in town, they also visited the Beaufort History Museum, Smalls’ burial site at Tabernacle Baptist Church and the Robert Smalls House — the home where Smalls was born a slave, then purchased it decades later once he was a free man.

The house, which is designated a National Historic Landmark, was named by HGTV Ultimate House Hunt voters as the most extraordinary historic home for sale in the U.S. in July 2018.

The CBS Sunday Morning crew also visited Charleston, where they interviewed his great-great-grandson and retraced the route Smalls took to freedom on the CSS Planter, a Confederate ship that he commandeered when he escaped enslavement in 1862, Hudspeth said.

Robert Smalls Principal Jennifer Morillo said Thursday that it was “truly an honor” the crew decided to visit the school as part of its reporting and filming process.

“It’s always an awesome experience when you can have a national news affiliate come by and highlight the school, the building and the famous Robert Smalls,” Morillo said.

Morillo said students, parents and staff were informed of the filming earlier this week.

The segment is expected to air on CBS Sunday Morning sometime between January and March 2019.

This story was originally published November 15, 2018 at 3:49 PM.