Paul Stillwell is an independent historian and retired naval officer. He worked for thirty years at the U.S. Naval Institute as an oral historian and editor of Naval History magazine. He is the author or editor of thirteen books, including four on battleships and an award-winning volume on the Navy's first African American officers,The Golden Thirteen.
In 1944, responding to pressure from Eleanor Roosevelt and Adlai Stevenson (the latter then serving as assistant to the Navy secretary), the Navy reluctantly turned 13 black enlisted men into officers--the first African American officers in the branch. Not knowing where to assign them, the Bureau of Personnel put them to work on harbor craft and supervising stevedores. Though their naval service was not in itself particularly interesting, their commissioning represented an important breakthrough, for it led to an increase in opportunities for African Americans in the armed forces. As Gen. Colin Powell remarks in the foreword, this collection of interviews with eight surviving members of the group (plus three white officers who served with them) is not so much about their years in the Navy as it is about ``what it was to grow up, to make a living, to be American, to be black'' in the middle years of this century. Only one of the 13 made a career of the Navy; the others, after serving honorably, returned to civilian life and became, variously, a football coach, a teacher, a dealership service-manager, a city planner, an NCAA official, a judge, a social worker, an Urban League official. Stillwell directs the oral history program at the Naval Institute. Photos. (Feb.)
Stillwell, the editor of Naval History magazine, has compiled a fascinating collection of reminiscences focusing on the first black naval officers in America. The recollections include eight black officers (commissioned in 1944) and three white officers involved in their training. Two major themes emerge: Most of the blacks were well-educated former athletes whose families stressed self-discipline and the need for formal schooling. In addition, the 16 candidates (three of whom were not commissioned) saw themselves as a coherent group who cooperated rather than competed in their training. Filled with interesting detail, especially about differing white and black perceptions of the military, this is a welcome addition covering a little-explored area of African American history.-- Anthony O. Edmonds, Ball State Univ., Muncie, Ind.
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