The Golden Thirteen

Listeners enter history through the eyes of a Black Navy man as he is abruptly given a new assignment without any explanation about what's going on. Narrator Sam Manual conveys the man's anxiety and then his relief at learning that he is to become one of 12 Black Navy officers in 1944, the first cohort to integrate the officer ranks. Manuel's voice captures both the heightened emotions of racial tension and the routine aspects of Navy life. As listeners learn about the lives and careers of the men in the first group, the atmosphere of WWII-era America takes shape. The Navy's treatment of Black enlistees, the Black press's shift toward the Democratic Party, and racially motivated violence are part of this historic turning point. J.A.S. � AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine