Breaking the Color Barrier: The U.S. Naval Academy's First Black Midshipmen and the Struggle for Racial Equality

by Robert J. Schneller Jr.

Book Overview

Winner of the 2006 Richard W. Leopold Prize from the Organization of American Historians
Winner of the 2006 George Pendleton Prize from the Society for History in the Federal Government
Only five black men were admitted to the United States Naval Academy between Reconstruction and the beginning of World War II. None graduated, and all were deeply scarred by intense racial discrimination, ranging from brutal hazing incidents to the institutionalized...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0814740138
• ISBN13: 9780814740132
• Release Date: April 2005
• Publisher: New York University Press
• Length: 331 Pages
• Weight: 1.36 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Well Done Story of a Civil Rights Pioneer

The civil rights history of the United States has a number of people, such as Martin Luther King, that stand out as giants among men. While certainly important in the struggle for civil rights, the whole movement was as much dependent on an awful lot of lessor known, even unknown people: Charleen Hunter, the little girl going to school in Little Rock; Rosa Parks, the lady riding the bus in Montgomery. This book brings another to the fore, Wesley Brown, the first African American to graduate from the United States Naval Academy. His is a story of undue harassment by southern students, and a strength that I don't think I would have had. It's a story worth telling and well told in this new book. What the book doesn't mention is that after graduating Mr. Brown remained in the Navy until he retired in 1969 as Lt. Commander. To further honor Mr. Brown, the Navy is now intended to build the Wesley Brown Field House at the academy.