For information:

Historian’s Office

Commandant (CG-09224)

U.S. Coast Guard 

Headquarters

2100 Second Street SW 

Washington, DC 20593

5,000 African 

Americans served in the 

Coast Guard during 

World War II and about 

1 of every 5 in reached 

petty officer and 

warrant officer level. 

By 1943, the Coast 

Guard commissioned its 

first African American 

officer and 

desegregated its first 

cutter, the cutter Sea 

Cloud. Both events 

came a year before 

similar efforts in the 

U.S. Navy. In 1945, the Coast Guard appointed its 

second African American ship commander while 

Olivia Hooker and four other women became the 

first African American women to join the service.

These pioneering efforts of World War II paid off 

as African Americans reached higher levels in the 

enlisted rates and officer ranks. By the mid-1970s, 

African Americans made up 7 percent of the 

service, including personnel at the master chief and 

captain levels. By the end of the twentieth century, 

African American Vince Patton had reached the 

highest enlisted rank in the service and Erroll 

Brown achieved flag rank. Today Manson Brown is 

vice admiral and commander of the Coast Guard’s 

vast Pacific Area.

In addition, African American women have made 

great strides since World War II. They first 

graduated from the Academy in 1983 while several 

women climbed to senior enlisted and officer levels 

during the 1990s. And the first African American 

female aviator, Jeanine 

McIntosh, earned her 

wings in 2005.

African Americans in 

the service have come a 

long way, pioneering the 

way ahead for all 

minorities in the Coast 

Guard, U.S. military 

services, and the nation 

and they are the longest 

serving minority in the 

U.S. Coast Guard and the 

federal government.

U n i te d S ta t es 

C o a s t G uar d 

Pioneers of 

Diversity: 

African 

Americans in 

the U.S. Coast 

Guard

Vince Patton, Eighth Master 

Chief Petty Officer of the 

Coast Guard 

Front: Manson Brown, Vice 

Admiral and Commander of 

the Coast Guard ’ s Pacific 

Area 

Erroll Brown 

J eanine Mc Intos h 
African Americans have served in the 

Coast Guard for over 220 years. In that 

time, African American personnel have 

come a long way, challenging discrimination and cultural barriers, and persevering with a dedication to their service 

that has benefited all who serve in it.

During the early years of the Revenue 

Cutter Service African Americans served 

side-by-side with their white shipmates. 

In the War of 1812, African American 

cuttermen were among the first to fight 

against the Royal Navy. At fifteen years 

of age, an African American crewman 

from the cutter James Madison is considered the youngest POW in Coast 

Guard history. 

War has served as a catalyst for 

change in the Coast Guard as it has for 

all the military services. During the Civil 

War, African Americans comprised five 

to ten percent of the crewmembers on 

board revenue cutters. Considering the 

small size of cutter crews, this proved to 

Service Station, supervising an allAfrican American crew and becoming 

the first African American station keeper 

in the service. Pea Island’s 1896 rescue 

of the schooner E.S. Newman earned the 

crew the Gold Lifesaving Medal.

The 1890s saw greater improvements 

in the service for African Americans. 

Beginning in 1897, over 20 members of 

the Berry family served with approximately 400 years of total military service 

and nearly 115 consecutive years served 

by at least one family member. African 

Americans served in several rates during 

this period and fought at battle stations 

during combat. The Spanish American 

War served as a highlight of this decade. 

For example, the cutter Hudson’s steward Moses Jones and cook Henry Savage 

received special Congressional Medals 

along with rest of crew for heroic service 

in the hard fought Battle of Cardenas 

Bay, Cuba. It was the first such recognition of African American personnel in 

the service.

In the first half of the 20th century, the 

African-American Pea Island Station 

continued to stand as a symbol of minority success in the Coast Guard. In 1919, 

the Vicksburg-based cutter Yocona, became the first 

integrated federal ship in the 

history of the 

United States. 

By 1928, an 

African 

American became the first 

recognized 

minority to 

command a 

Coast Guard 

cutter.

African American 

Service since 1790

Crew of Cutter Yoc ona , 1925 

Coas t Guard -manned USS Sea Cloud 

be a de facto form of integration. During the war, the U.S. 

Lighthouse Service hired escaped slaves, or “contrabands,” to 

operate lights in Union-held territory. For example, Fishing 

Rip Lightship, off Port Royal, S.C., had a contraband crew 

during the war. It was the first federal vessel of any kind with 

an all African American crew.

In the 1870s, African Americans were appointed by the 

Lighthouse Service to keep various lighthouses. In 1879, the 

first African American was promoted to full keeper and allAfrican American staffs manned some lights in the 1880s. 

African American watermen were considered some of the 

finest in the South. In the 1870s, the U.S. Life-Saving Service 

assembled crews with these men, including African American 

Jeremiah Munden, one of the service’s first surfmen to die in 

the line of duty during a rescue. And, in 1880, Richard 

Etheridge assumed command of the Pea Island Life-Saving 

Pea Island Station Crew Oliv ia Hook er