COLUMBIA, S.C. - The Senate will give final approval Thursday to a bill that calls for a monument on Statehouse grounds honoring a black Civil War hero who later became a U.S. House member.

Robert Smalls was born in 1839 to a house slave in Beaufort and grew to become a respected captain, legislator and congressman.

"To African-Americans like me, we look up on him with high esteem and high respect," Sen. Darrell Jackson, D-Hopkins and the bill's sponsor, said. "He paved the road for people like me to be here."

Smalls has received other recognition, but this would be the first monument on Statehouse grounds to a black Reconstruction-era individual. The African-American History Monument on the grounds portrays movement of blacks in the state from slave ships to emancipation and prominence.

Earlier this month, a new U.S. Army supply ship was christened in honor of Smalls. Smalls commandeered a Confederate steamer 142 years ago and turned it over to Union sailors blockading Charleston's harbor.

Smalls' home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and Beaufort has named a school and a highway for him. He is buried in Beaufort County.