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The Golden Thirteen: Recollections of the First Black Naval Officers

National Archives, William G. McGowan Theater Washington

In January 1944, a group of enlisted black men gathered at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station in Illinois to train as the Navy's first African American officers on active duty. On receiving their commission, these pioneers came to be known as the Golden Thirteen. Paul Stillwell, former director of the Naval Institute's History division,

Directed Readings Seminar: Black History Month

National Museum of the United States Navy Washington

The Naval History and Heritage Command hosts a series seminars for which historians select basic readings that will cover major trends, wars, battles, policies, and technologies across the chronological span of the U.S. Navy's history and facilitate discussion on the readings and their implications. No quizzes, no tests, no papers, and no grades-just intellectual discourse