[U.S. Naval Training Station]

This uniform suite of portraiture shows a group of African American recruits at a U.S. Naval Training Station in Great Lakes Illinois.

The Naval Station Great Lakes, the Navy’s largest training installation, was announced by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1905. Though the idea of a Naval training facility far from any ocean was unconventional, Naval commanders in the Spanish-American War had noticed that many of their best sailors were from the midwest, and decided to bring the training grounds to the source. While the center existed as legislature from 1905, construction wasn’t completed until 1911. Today, Naval Station Great Lakes is home to 20,000 Sailors, Marines, Soldiers, and civilians who work for the Department of Defense.

Racial segregation was a major presence in the lives of African American Naval servicemen such as those pictured here. Following WWI, African Americans were not allowed to even enlist in the Navy until 1932. Even then, they were restricted to roles as stewards and mess attendants. World War II saw a significant rise in demand for troops and “Seabees,” members of Construction Battalions. With this demand for troops, the Navy relaxed a number of its racially-driven policies. Following the Port Chicago disaster, in which several hundred servicemen and civilians—around two-thirds of whom were black—were killed in a munitions explosion, African American soldiers began refusing to perform their duties under similarly unsafe conditions. The ensuing mutiny convictions drew attention to segregation in the Navy, leading to Circular Order 48-46, which officially ended the practice.