I was in Jackson, Mississippi this week. I stood on the driveway on the spot where Medgar Evers was assassinated. I saw the bullet hole that passed through his body, through the wall, and the dent it left in the refrigerator.
Then I went to the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and met Hezekiah Watkins.
To make a long and gut-wrenching story short: at 13 years old, he accidentally found himself in a white-only waiting room and as a result ended up in the state penitentiary. On death row. As a child. Miraculously, he got out - and dedicated his life to the movement. He experienced over a hundred arrests because of his fighting for his share of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. He is real American hero.
Jackson is part of the U.S. Civil Rights Trail. The @visitjackson folks do an amazing job!
If this history matters to you, go.
#USCivilRightsTrail #Jackson #Mississippi #MedgarEvers #HezekiahWatkins CivilRights
With @michaelbmoore getting a master class in the language and culture of Gullah/Geechee from the legendary Queen Quei @gullahgeechee . I was inspired and awed by her stories about the Middle Passage and the necessity of creating a lingua franca so people from different cultures with different languages could communicate and protect themselves from the prying ears of their owners. Robert Smalls and his mother Lydia Polite spoke Gullah/Geechee at home, and their culture will feature prominently in the @defiantproject movie. Thank you @AMPTurnItUp for the pic.
Shrimp and grits with @michaelbmoore@blackstonescafe in Beaufort, South Carolina. Getting ready for the Pat Canroy Festival. Doing some on-site research for @defiantproject . More to come.
I'm old enough to remember when the coffee here was simply to wash down the donuts. Unbelievably, I enjoyed my first cup of Dunkin recently as I begin to explore coffee for the first time. I've just always been a tea drinker!
This started as a meme. The graphic novel did its job helping to establish Robert Smalls as a household name. We’re planning on announcing the next steps on its pathway to becoming a movie in the coming months.
But first, let’s celebrate.
Defiant: The Story of Robert Smalls just became a 2026 NAACP Image Award Nominee for Outstanding Literary Work – Graphic Novel.
Amazon Best Seller. NPR Books We Love 2025. Sold out first printing. And now this.
Robert Smalls was born into slavery. At 23, he stole a Confederate warship in the dead of night, bluffed his way past five checkpoints, and sailed his family to freedom. He went on to become a war hero, entrepreneur, and five-term U.S. Congressman and helped establish the public school system in the United States.
This is the greatest heist story never told. Until now.
Defiant, the Story of Robert Smalls is written by Academy Award-nominated screenwriter @iamrobedwards (The Princess and the Frog, Treasure Planet, Captain America: Brave New World).
Hollywood, are you paying attention?
This story deserves the big screen. And we’re going to put it there.
Get the graphic novel at defiantproject.com
Be Defiant.
Executive produced by @realbillduke , @krondon , @pmscanlan , @jeffannison , @ltlcosplay , and @sebastian.a.jones .
Associate produced by @michaelbmoore (Robert Smalls’ great-great-grandson), @mr.chriscooper , @terrilubaroff@robertblakewhitehill , @joshuacozine , and @darrellmayart .
Cover art by @nikolasdrapperivey , @raheightcomics , and @caananwhiteart . Interior art by @seandamienhill and @fly_ban_joe . Layouts by @darrellmayart . Colors by @mauroilustra and @blondthecolorist . Edited by @joshuacozine and @sebastian.a.jones .
Published by @strangercomics . Produced by @legionmofficial , the world’s first fan-owned entertainment company.
#Defiant #RobertSmalls #NAACPImageAwards #BlackHistory #TrueStory #HeistMovie #RepresentationMatters #BlackExcellence #LegionM #StrangerComics #BasedOnATrueStory #robertsmalls
We spoke with Michael Boulware Moore, the great great grandson of Robert Smalls-whose story has just been turned into a fantastic graphic novel and soon to be movie from Legion M and Stranger Comics. Check it out! Full interviews with the Defiant team are available on the Cherry the Geek TV YouTube page! #SDCC #SDCC2025 @legionmofficial@strangercomics@defiantproject@michaelbmoore
