USNA News Center
Black History Month
POSTED ON: Tuesday, February 1, 2022 1:29 PM by mediarelations@usna.edu
To kick off Black History Month, we are highlighting a few of the Naval Academy's most influential Black leaders, graduates and faculty members.
Pictured from left to right:
- First African American Naval Academy graduate - Wesley Brown, Class of 1949.
- First African American professor at the Naval Academy - Dr. Samuel Massie joined the Chemistry Department in 1966. In 1977, he was appointed as Department Chair and served in this position until 1981. Dr. Massie retired from the Naval Academy in 1993.
- First African American female graduate - Janie L. Mines, Class of 1980, who was the only African American in the first class of women. Janie, left, is pictured with her sister, Gwendolyn, Class of 1981.
- First African American Commandant of Midshipmen - Bruce E. Grooms, Class of 1980, served as the 81st Commandant of Midshipmen. He is pictured with Wesley Brown at the ground breaking ceremony for Wesley Brown Field House in 2006.
- First African American female brigade commander- Sydney Barber, Class of 2021.
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Category: General Interest, People