02/14/2024
During World War II, a group of Black sailors was chosen to integrate the Naval Officer Corps, forever changing the face of the Navy. They became known as “The Golden Thirteen.”
In 1944, there were about 100,000 Black sailors, but none were officers. Responding to pressure from the NAACP, civil rights leaders and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, the Navy began an officer training course for 16 Black enlisted men at the now Great Lakes Naval Training Station in Illinois.
The odds were stacked against the chosen enlisted men. The normal officer training course was sixteen weeks. They were given only 8 weeks to complete it.
“We believed there were people who hoped we’d fail,” then-Petty Officer Samuel Barnes later recalled.
Samuel Barnes.
Samuel Barnes went on to become an athletic director at Howard University.
“We were determined to succeed in spite of the burden that was being placed on our shoulders.”
The men decided if any of them were ever to wear an officer’s uniform, command a ship, graduate from the Naval Academy or lead white men in battle, they had to succeed.
Great Lakes Naval Training Station was home to an elite service school with plenty of equipment for training. But the candidates saw almost none of that. They trained separately from other sailors, drilled apart and ate alone, living in their own barracks in the segregated section of the station.
In it together
After lights out every night the candidates sat together in the bathroom to study. They put blankets over the windows and, flashlights in hand, studied the lessons of the past day and prepared for the next. Each man brought his own expertise to strengthen the skills and knowledge of the others.
Jesse Arbor, a quartermaster, taught Morse code. He’d give a prompt, like “a ship approaching on such-and-such side.” The men would tap it out on the wall of the restroom. If they got it wrong, they’d start again. Even their toughest instructors weren’t as demanding as they were of themselves. When the men went to class the next day there was little a teacher could do to catch them off guard.
Despite all they endured, the candidates never acknowledged it outwardly. They knew that losing their temper could give credence to the pervasive belief that Black men lacked the demeanor necessary for command.
Above and beyond
When the course was over, the group posted grades like no other officer class in history. All sixteen passed their exams. Their marks were so outstanding that some in Washington were certain the men had cheated. They had to retake some of the exams.
They scored even higher, with an average grade of 3.89 out of 4–the highest average of any class in Navy history at the time.
Despite all sixteen passing the course, the Navy only commissioned 12 of the 16 men. A 13th would be made a warrant officer, meaning he’d be above noncommissioned men but still below ensigns, the lowest officer rank.
No official explanation was given, but the result was the first Black class, a group with higher marks than any class before it, would have the same pass rate as an average class of white officer candidates.
The other three were sent back to the enlisted ranks with no explanations given.
First, not last
Once commissioned, the Golden Thirteen’s assignments were usually menial. Combat was out of the question. The Navy would not have Black men commanding white men in battle.
William Sylvester White.
William Sylvester White became a justice of the Illinois Appellate Court.
“We were the hopes and aspirations of the Blacks in the Navy,” Lt. William Sylvester White recalled. “We were the forerunners. What we did or did not do determined whether the program expanded or failed.”
They felt a responsibility to be the first, not the last.
Two months after the first ensigns graduated, the Navy commissioned 10 more men. The second group proved to be just as outstanding as the first.
Decades later, a legacy
The first reunion for the surviving members of the Golden Thirteen was in 1977, a decade after the civil rights movement. It was the first time the group met their legacy. There were dozens of Black faces—lieutenants, captains, even an admiral.
They each walked over to the Golden Thirteen to pay their respects and salute the trailblazers.
“We owe it all to you,” one after the other said. “If it hadn’t been for you guys, we wouldn’t be here.”
February 13, 2024|Categories: Homepage-promo-spot, Top Stories|Tags: Black History Month, Golden Thirteen
During World War II, a group of Black sailors was chosen to integrate the Naval Officer Corps, forever changing the face of the Navy. They became known as “The Golden Thirteen.”
In 1944, there were about 100,000 Black sailors, but none were officers. Responding to pressure from the NAACP, civil rights leaders and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, the Navy began an officer training course for 16 Black enlisted men at the now Great Lakes Naval Training Station in Illinois.
The odds were stacked against the chosen enlisted men. The normal officer training course was sixteen weeks. They were given only 8 weeks to complete it.
“We believed there were people who hoped we’d fail,” then-Petty Officer Samuel Barnes later recalled.
Samuel Barnes.
Samuel Barnes went on to become an athletic director at Howard University.
“We were determined to succeed in spite of the burden that was being placed on our shoulders.”
The men decided if any of them were ever to wear an officer’s uniform, command a ship, graduate from the Naval Academy or lead white men in battle, they had to succeed.
Great Lakes Naval Training Station was home to an elite service school with plenty of equipment for training. But the candidates saw almost none of that. They trained separately from other sailors, drilled apart and ate alone, living in their own barracks in the segregated section of the station.
In it together
After lights out every night the candidates sat together in the bathroom to study. They put blankets over the windows and, flashlights in hand, studied the lessons of the past day and prepared for the next. Each man brought his own expertise to strengthen the skills and knowledge of the others.
Jesse Arbor, a quartermaster, taught Morse code. He’d give a prompt, like “a ship approaching on such-and-such side.” The men would tap it out on the wall of the restroom. If they got it wrong, they’d start again. Even their toughest instructors weren’t as demanding as they were of themselves. When the men went to class the next day there was little a teacher could do to catch them off guard.
Despite all they endured, the candidates never acknowledged it outwardly. They knew that losing their temper could give credence to the pervasive belief that Black men lacked the demeanor necessary for command.
Above and beyond
When the course was over, the group posted grades like no other officer class in history. All sixteen passed their exams. Their marks were so outstanding that some in Washington were certain the men had cheated. They had to retake some of the exams.
They scored even higher, with an average grade of 3.89 out of 4–the highest average of any class in Navy history at the time.
Despite all sixteen passing the course, the Navy only commissioned 12 of the 16 men. A 13th would be made a warrant officer, meaning he’d be above noncommissioned men but still below ensigns, the lowest officer rank.
No official explanation was given, but the result was the first Black class, a group with higher marks than any class before it, would have the same pass rate as an average class of white officer candidates.
The other three were sent back to the enlisted ranks with no explanations given.
First, not last
Once commissioned, the Golden Thirteen’s assignments were usually menial. Combat was out of the question. The Navy would not have Black men commanding white men in battle.
William Sylvester White.
William Sylvester White became a justice of the Illinois Appellate Court.
“We were the hopes and aspirations of the Blacks in the Navy,” Lt. William Sylvester White recalled. “We were the forerunners. What we did or did not do determined whether the program expanded or failed.”
They felt a responsibility to be the first, not the last.
Two months after the first ensigns graduated, the Navy commissioned 10 more men. The second group proved to be just as outstanding as the first.
Decades later, a legacy
The first reunion for the surviving members of the Golden Thirteen was in 1977, a decade after the civil rights movement. It was the first time the group met their legacy. There were dozens of Black faces—lieutenants, captains, even an admiral.
They each walked over to the Golden Thirteen to pay their respects and salute the trailblazers.
“We owe it all to you,” one after the other said. “If it hadn’t been for you guys, we wouldn’t be here.”
February 13, 2024|Categories: Homepage-promo-spot, Top Stories|Tags: Black History Month, Golden Thirteen
