Black Sailor, White Navy: Racial Unrest in the Fleet during the Vietnam War Era

by John Darrell Sherwood

Overview

It is hard to determine what dominated more newspaper headlines in America during the 1960s and early ‘70s: the Vietnam War or America’s turbulent racial climate. Oddly, however, these two pivotal moments are rarely examined in tandem.
John Darrell Sherwood has mined the archives of the U.S. Navy and conducted scores of interviews with Vietnam veterans — both black and white — and other military personnel to reveal the full extent of racial unrest in the Navy during the Vietnam War era, as well as the Navy’s attempts to control it. During the second half of the Vietnam War, the Navy witnessed some of the worst incidents of racial strife ever experienced by the American military. Sherwood introduces us to fierce encounters on American warships and bases, ranging from sit-down strikes to major race riots.
The Navy’s journey from a state of racial polarization to one of relative harmony was not an easy one, and Black Sailor, White Navy focuses on the most turbulent point in this road: the Vietnam War era.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814708583
Publisher:	New York University Press
Publication date:	11/01/2007
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	344
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

John Darrell Sherwood is an official historian with the U.S. Naval Historical Center. He is the author of Officers in Flight Suits: The Story of American Air Force Fighter Pilots in Korea and Afterburner: Naval Aviators and the Vietnam War, both published by NYU Press. He is also the author of Fast Movers: Aviators and the Vietnam War Experience.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Prologue: Storm Warning Glossary 1 The Black Sailor: Chambermaid to the Braid and Nothing More 2 Racial Unrest Strikes the Army and Marines 3 The Zumwalt Revolution 4 Kitty Hawk: The Pot Begins to Boil 5 Blow Off: The Kitty Hawk Riot 6 More Unrest: The Hassayampa Riot 7 The Sit-down Strike on the Constellation 8 Negotiations with the Protesters: A Comedy of Errors 9 The Hicks Subcommittee Hearings: Questions and Motives 10 Violence on Nearly Every Ship: Race Riots after Constellation 11 The Struggle to Eliminate Bias in the Fleet 12 From Awareness to Af?rmation Epilogue Appendix: Navy Ranks and Ratings, 1973 Notes Bibliography Index About the Author 

Editorial Reviews

"U. S. Naval Historian Center historian John Darrell Sherwoods examines the racial situation in the Navy during the sixities and seventies and the Navys attempts to deal with it."

The VVA Veteran

"A valuable contribution to the growing historiography on racial and ethnic minorities in wartime. . . . Sherwoods good writing, voluminous research, and perceptive conclusions should make his book the standard treatment of its subject."

American Historical Review

"Sherwood's contribution to our understanding of the racial tension that the navy experienced as the Vietnam War ended for American troops should interest military historians and students of the Vietnam War."

Ron Milam

"In Black Sailor, White Navy John Darrell Sherwood offers an intelligent and much-needed examination of the racial turmoil in the navy in the later years of the Vietnam War."

International Journal of Maritime History

"Highly Recommended"

The Hook

"“ is well researched and relies heavily on primary sources, particularly from the navy. Sherwood’s main sources for the book are the JAGMAN (the Judge Advocate General’s Manual) investigations of the racial incidents. The investigations provide a detailed report of the incidents and any recommendations for corrective or disciplinary action."

Journal of American Ethnic History

"John Darrell Sherwoods Black Sailor, White Navy is an important contribution to social/cultural military history."

The Journal of American History

"A scholarly, readable, and thought provoking account of a troubled period in American history. Readers interested in the Navy, the Vietnam conflict, and race relations will find this authoritative study invaluable."

Journal of Military History

"A well-constructed narrative that examines the origins and events of the naval version of the Civil Rights movement in the early 1970s . . . A valuable contribution to both our understanding of the dynamics of the United States Navy and the Civil Rights movement toward the end of the Vietnam War era."

Ronald Bruce Frankum

"Based on naval archives and scores of Vietnam veterans (both black and white), this book examines racial unrest in the turbulent Vietnam-era Navy and the Navy’s efforts to control it."

Columbia College Today