A GLOBAL FORCE FOR GOOD.

TM

There is no black Navy, no white Navy—just one Navy—the United States Navy.

—admiral elmo r. zumwalt jr., chief of naval operations, 1970

AFRICAN

AmERICANS

in the united states navy

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Opposite page: Sailors man the rails aboard the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis

(CVN 74) as she pulls into Busan, Republic of Korea, for a port visit, March 2009.

Left: Information Systems Technician 3rd Class David Clark participates in a visit, 

board, search, and seizure training exercise in the Atlantic, March 2009. 

Above: Vice Adm. Melvin G. Williams, Commander, U.S. Second Fleet, greets retired 

Rear Adm. Lillian Fishburne, the Navy’s first female African American flag officer, 

following a ceremony honoring his military achievements, February 2009.

African Americans have distinguished themselves at sea since the 

Revolution. During the War of 1812, the commander of U.S. naval forces 

on the Great Lakes declared black sailors to be “amongst my best men.” 
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During the Civil War, African American Sailors 

fought on every kind of Union warship, accounted 

for 10 to 24 percent of each ship’s crew, and included 

eight Medal of Honor recipients. 

African American Sailors served during the Spanish 

American War and World War I with distinction. One of 

America’s first national heroes of World War II was a 

black Sailor, Mess Attendant 2nd Class Doris “Dorie” 

Miller, who machine-gunned Japanese planes during 

the 7 December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. For his 

heroism he received the Navy Cross, the Navy’s highest 

medal and the nation’s second-highest combat decoration. 

In 1944 the Navy also began commissioning black 

officers with the first group known as the Golden 

Thirteen. By the end of the war 64 African Americans 

had become officers in the Navy.

Top left: Gunners fire a cannon on board USS Scourge 

in the War of 1812.

Bottom left: Sailors cook a meal on board USS Monitor, 

the Navy’s first ironclad warship, c. 1862. 

Center: Dorie Miller proudly wears his Navy Cross, c. 1942.

Below: The Golden Thirteen entered the U.S. Naval Reserve 

on 17 March 1944.
“Conquer education. Be known as a good 

performer. And be a person of principle.”

J. Paul Reason

Admiral J. Paul Reason was raised in Washington, D.C., when that 

city was still segregated and where his father was director of libraries 

at Howard University and his mother a high school biology teacher. 

Reason decided to become a naval officer because it seemed the 

most economical way to get an excellent education, but he made 

the Navy a career. As a junior officer, he served on board the aircraft 

carrier Enterprise (CVN 65) during the Vietnam War. As commander, 

he served as naval aide to President Jimmy Carter. As captain, he 

skippered the nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser Bainbridge (CGN 

25). In December 1996 he became the first African American naval 

officer to wear four stars and assumed command of the Atlantic Fleet, 

comprising nearly 200 warships, 1,400 aircraft, and 122,000 service 

men and women based at 18 major shore facilities. 

Adm. Paul Reason, c. 1996.

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Wesley A. Brown entered the Naval Academy in 

1945. He had originally planned to attend West Point, 

from which several African Americans had already 

graduated. But when Representative Adam Clayton 

Powell Jr. (D-N.Y.) offered him the opportunity to go to 

Annapolis, Brown accepted what he called “the greater 

challenge” to become a Navy first. During his freshman 

year, Brown ran on the cross country team with future 

President Jimmy Carter, then a member of the senior 

class. After graduating in 1949, Brown entered the Civil 

Engineer Corps, leading to a 20-year Navy career in 

which he worked on construction projects in Antarctica, 

Hawaii, the Philippines, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. 

In 2008 the Naval Academy honored Commander 

Brown’s achievements by naming a multimillion-dollar 

field house after him. 

The Navy’s policies of the 1960s and 1970s changed 

the face of the fleet. The service developed an equal 

opportunity program that sought to eliminate bias in 

recruiting, assigning, and promoting African Americans. 

The Navy’s new affirmative action program achieved for 

the first time a black population in the enlisted service 

that paralleled America’s black population.

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Top left: Ens. Wesley A. Brown, the first African American graduate of the U.S. Naval 

Academy, and his mother, Rosetta Brown, hold the diploma he received on 3 June 

1949. Reprinted by permission of the D.C. Public Library © Washington Post.

Top right: Ens. Jesse L. Brown, of Fighter Squadron 32 on the aircraft carrier USS 

Leyte (CV 32) during the Korean War, was the first African American naval aviator 

to fly in combat. 

Bottom left: Rear Admiral Samuel L. Gravely Jr., the first African American flag officer, 

accepts congratulations on his promotion, June 1971. 

Bottom right: Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead speaks with Sailors 

from the precommissioning unit of the guided missile destroyer USS Gravely (DDG 

107) after a ceremony honoring the service of Vice Admiral Gravely, July 2009.
Adam M. Robinson JR.

Vice Admiral Adam M. Robinson Jr. grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, 

where televised images of the return of assassinated President John 

F. Kennedy’s body to the National Naval Medical Center inspired him to 

dream of a career in the Navy. After graduating college in 1972, Robinson 

entered the Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program, which 

offers a medical education in return for service as a commissioned officer. 

After medical school, Robinson spent two decades practicing surgery at 

naval hospitals and on board three aircraft carriers before embarking on 

leadership assignments. He exceeded even his most ambitious childhood 

dream in August 2007 when he became the 36th Surgeon General of the 

Navy and Chief of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, managing 59,000 

people, a $3 billion annual budget, and comprehensive medical care for 

Sailors, Marines, and their families around the world. 

“No job in the private sector offers the breadth 

and the depth of the experiences that I’ve 

been fortunate to have.”

Rear Adm. Adam Robinson as Commander, National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Md., 

in July 2005.

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Top left: Astronaut and Navy Capt. 

Winston E. Scott goes for a “walk” dur-

ing a space shuttle mission, c. 1997.

Top right: Rear Adm. Earl Gay, deputy 

chairman of the Armed Forces Inaugu-

ral Committee, meets U.S. Presidentelect Barack Obama in Washington, 

January 2008. 

Bottom left: Explosive Ordnance 

Disposal Technician 1st Class Jeremy 

Stark surfaces after completing a dive 

in Africa’s Lake Victoria during a search 

and recovery operation for a Russian 

cargo plane, March 2009.

Bottom right: Ens. Patrick Tamakloe 

logs the presence of a nearby mer-

chant vessel aboard the guided missile 

destroyer USS Donald Cook (DDG 75) 

in the Red Sea, March 2003.

The Navy Affirmative Action Plan (NAAP) launched in 

June 1976 determined the number of black officers in 

the Navy for the next quarter-century. At first the NAAP 

set the recruiting goal for black officers at 6 percent, a 

figure reflecting the proportion of African Americans with 

college degrees. In July 1994 the Secretary of the Navy 

launched a new policy seeking to achieve a naval officer 

corps that reflected the proportion of black people in the 
“This is all I’ve ever wanted to do.”

Michelle j. Howard

When she was 12 years old, Michelle Howard told her older brother 

she wanted to join the Navy. A quarter-century later, on 12 March 

1999, she became skipper of Rushmore (LSD 47) and the first 

African American woman to command a U.S. warship. Command of 

a ship is a responsibility given only to officers in whom the Navy has 

the utmost trust and confidence. Howard was thrilled. “This is it!” she 

told a reporter. “This is all I’ve ever wanted to do.” Howard went on 

to lead an amphibious squadron, serve as senior military assistant 

to the Secretary of the Navy, and achieve flag rank. Rear Admiral 

Howard commanded Expeditionary Strike Group 2 and Combined 

Task Force 151, a multinational task force established to conduct 

counterpiracy operations in the Gulf of Aden, from April 2009 to 

July 2010. As a two-star flag officer in her next assignment, she 

served as Chief of Staff to the Director of Strategic Plans and 

Policy on the Joint Staff.

Rear Adm. Michelle J. Howard, Commander, Expeditionary Strike Group 2, addresses Sailors and 

Marines aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer (LHD 4) in the Indian Ocean, May 2009.

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United States. This has been the Navy’s goal ever since. 

As of November 2009, 7.84 percent of officers and 

20.34 percent of enlisted men and women in the Navy 

were African American.

The Navy’s personnel policies have enabled black 

Sailors and officers to achieve great things. Aviation 

Structural Mechanic 3rd Class Markland Grant moved 

from Jamaica to Orlando, Florida, in 2005. Grant 

dreamed of becoming a pilot in the military and started 

doing research on the services. “I fell in love with the 

Navy,” he said. “I like the way the Navy does it. They 

send you to school for a specific job that you love, and 

you have a real career.” Grant applied for and received 

citizenship so he could receive a commission in the 

Navy. As line shack night supervisor for Helicopter 

Squadron Light 44, Grant worked toward a commission 

through the Seaman to Admiral-21 program, majoring in 

professional aeronautics with a minor in management. 

Top left: Medical augmentee Lt. Pam Liptrot tends to a young patient 

from the Dominican Republic aboard the amphibious assault ship 

USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) during humanitarian operations in the 

Caribbean Sea, October 2008.

Top right: Acting Secretary of the Navy B. J. Penn, March 2009. 

Bottom: Vice Adm. Derwood C. Curtis, left, the commander of U.S. 

Naval Surface Forces and the Naval Surface Force, Pacific Fleet, 

meets with Vice Adm. Russell Harry Crane, Chief of Navy, Royal 

Australian Navy, March 2009.
Roger G. Isom

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“I feel blessed to have had the opportunity 

to experience what I once perceived as an 

impossible option for me.”

Cmdr. Roger Isom, 2006.

Commander Roger G. Isom grew up with eight siblings in a house 

without indoor plumbing in rural Monticello, Florida, where his father 

did carpentry and Roger worked on farms to help support the family. 

Although Isom never thought he could be a military officer, a talk with 

a Navy recruiter convinced him to enroll in the Navy’s BOOST program 

to do just that. After becoming the Naval Academy’s top-ranking 

midshipman and graduating in 1988, Isom received nuclear-power 

training and served on board seven nuclear attack and fleet ballistic 

missile submarines. On 3 August 2006 Commander Isom became 

skipper of the Gold crew of the fleet ballistic missile submarine USS 

Wyoming (SSBN 742). Often called “boomers,” these huge “boats” 

are designed for stealth, precision delivery of nuclear warheads, and 

deterring nuclear attack on the United States. In between tours at sea, 

Isom earned two master’s degrees, one in engineering management, 

the other in leadership and education development. 
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Black Sailors and officers have served in nearly 

every position the service has to offer, whether at sea, 

under the sea, in the air, on land, and in space. In the 

foreseeable future there will be no more “firsts,” for 

the day will come when a black man or woman will 

have served in every Navy billet.

Top left: Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Diane 

Sanders of Naval Health Clinic Annapolis is 

escorted by Chief Boatswain’s Mate William 

Grammer as part of the individual augmentee homecoming ceremony at Naval Support 

Activity Annapolis, Md., April 2009.

Top right: Lt. j.g. Michael Frisby, a pilot 

attached to Helicopter Antisubmarine 

Squadron 5, prepares for flight operations 

aboard the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. 

Eisenhower (CVN 69), January 2007.

Bottom: Able Seaman Edmund McCollin 

mans a machine gun during a Patrol Craft 

Officer Course at Naval Small Craft Instruction and Technical Training School, Stennis 

Space Center, Miss., March 2009.
Keith HOskins

Born the youngest of six children and raised in Parkville, Missouri, 

Commander Keith Hoskins became a jet fighter pilot because his 

father’s encouragement to dream big helped him overcome a high 

school counselor’s doubts about his ability. In 1989 he entered 

Aviation Officer Candidate School, becoming a naval aviator in February 

1992. Hoskins spent three seasons with the Blue Angels, a flight 

demonstration squadron that puts on shows for audiences around 

the world, performing precision aerobatic maneuvers in F/A-18 jets 

capable of flying more than 1,200 miles per hour. Hoskins later flew 

combat missions, accumulating over 3,400 flight hours and 570 

arrested landings on board aircraft carriers. 

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“Regardless of who you are, what your color 

is, the military will honor and credit those 

who perform.”

Cmdr. Keith Hoskins, c. 2000.
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In the 21st century the Navy’s leadership remains 

strongly committed to diversity. Chief of Naval Operations 

Admiral Gary Roughead declared that the Navy “must 

embrace the demographic changes of tomorrow and 

build a Navy that always reflects our country’s makeup.”

A person who is motivated and hardworking, and 

has the honor, courage, and commitment to serve, can 

achieve his or her dreams, regardless of gender, race, 

creed, color, or ethnic origin.

Top: Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Handling) Airman Alicia Lucas logs aircraft 

movements in hangar deck control aboard the aircraft carrier USS John C. 

Stennis (CVN 74) in the western Pacific Ocean, March 2009.

Center: Vice Adm. Mel Williams Jr., Commander, U.S. Second Fleet, left, greets 

Rear Adm. Victor G. Guillory, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command, 

U.S. Fourth Fleet, 2009.

Bottom: Members of Naval Special Warfare Boat Team 12 from USS Whidbey 

Island (LSD 41) prepare for an interdiction mission in the Gulf of Oman during 

Operation Enduring Freedom, April 2004.

Opposite page: Lt. Constance Denmond conducts a weapons safety check 

for members of the visit, board, search, and seizure team aboard the guided 

missile destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78), March 2009.

Photo credits: Naval History & Heritage Command, NAVY.mil, and D.C. 

Public Library.

Front cover: Lts. Kertreck Brooks, right, and Sean Bartlett direct the launch 

of aircraft from the Integrated Catapult Control System “bubble” on the 

flight deck of USS George Washington (CVN 73) in the Arabian Gulf during 

Operation Iraqi Freedom, July 2004.

Navy Diversity Directorate (N134)

Chief of Naval Personnel

www.npc.navy.mil/CommandSupport/Diversity

www.history.navy.mil

A GLOBAL FORCE FOR GOOD.

TM