Crossing the aisle

Throughout the school year, students from various grade levels exit parked buses on Sumter Street in Columbia, South Carolina, in the shadow of the State Capitol building, eagerly awaiting a special field trip tour. The grounds of this picturesque legislative hall, punctuated with lush landscaping and grand architecture, will soon welcome the first statue of a Black man, one Robert Smalls (1839-1915), an escaped slave turned Civil War hero turned state lawmaker.

Once erected, it will join only five other statues, all white men with ties to the Confederacy and Jim Crow eras. Just like Smalls' life story and legacy aren't widely known beyond South Carolina state lines, the same is true of the backstory of the two individuals who made the future monument possible. Reps. Brandon L. Cox (R-SC) and Jermaine L. Johnson (D-SC) may reside on opposite sides of the aisle in their work, but that hasn't kept them from making an impact.

In September, the two were honored with the 2025 Biden School of Civility in Public Service Award for their bipartisan efforts in passing South Carolina House Bill 4173 to recognize Smalls with his own monument. The award presentation and discussion, held on UD's Newark campus, brought together University leadership, faculty, students and community members. The award, established by the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration at the University of Delaware in 2022 and sponsored by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Ithaca Initiative, honors two public servants from disparate places on the political spectrum who successfully worked collaboratively for the public good.

"[The Civility Award] is a reflection of the values that we hold dear in the Biden School; things that we admire in our leaders-the kinds of things we expect our leaders to carry and to hold up," noted Biden School interim dean Joseph Trainor during introductory remarks.