A History Of Race Relations - 1856 Words

A History of Race Relations in the United States Navy Eric Tavares University of Northern Colorado Abstract Race relations in the United States Navy have had a long and rocky history. Although there is no denying progress has been made, especially in today’s Navy, it wasn’t always the case. Black sailors have honorably served in the American Revolution, however records by race weren’t then, and they continued to serve in the Navy up to this very day. (Williams, 2001) Since the American Revolution though, they have suffered from bigotry, segregation and outright racism from their white counterparts as well. This research paper is going to give a brief history of racism that black sailors suffered from the American†¦show more content†¦This is valuable to the academic community because these issues are not as known throughout the civilian world. Most people know about the civil rights era of the 60’s and the movements led by Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcom X; however, the Navy had its civil rights and equality issues as well, and it is not widely known and this research paper is going to shed some light on the subject. Review of Literature Race relations in the United States Navy have had a long and rocky history. This history includes many forms of bigotry and racism against minorities of all colors. It ranges from de jure segregation such as when military units were segregated prior to President Truman’s Executive Order 9981, which desegregated the Military to outright race riots such as what happened on the USS Kitty Hawk in 1972. While this research paper focuses on a historical review of how the Navy has handled racial relations, and how it has corrected and continues to this day to improve race relations. African Americans have a long and distinguished history of service in the United States Navy, such as manning gunboats during the American Revolution, to honorably serving during both World Wars, and they continue to serve today (Williams, 2001). However, during their time of service, black sailors have suffered the humiliations and injustices of segregation, bigotry, and institutionalized racism. Since the Civil War, African Americans were forced to serve in segregated units until