Wesley A. Brown
Encyclopedia
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...
(USNA), in Annapolis, Maryland. He served in the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
and the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
and served in the U.S Navy from May 2, 1944–June 30, 1969.
Early life
He graduated from Dunbar High SchoolPaul Laurence Dunbar High School (Baltimore, Maryland)
Paul Laurence Dunbar High School is a public secondary school located in Baltimore, Maryland.-History:Dunbar opened in 1918 as the Paul Laurence Dunbar Elementary School, No. 101. It was named in memory of Paul Laurence Dunbar, an African-American poet, who had died ten years earlier...
, where he was Cadet Corps Battalion Commander during his senior year. He became the first in his family to attend college, at Howard University.
Naval career
A retired naval officer, Lt. Cmdr. Brown became the first African American to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy. He was nominated for admission and later appointed to USNA, by New York Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.
Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., was an American politician and pastor who represented Harlem, New York City, in the United States House of Representatives . He was the first person of African-American descent elected to Congress from New York and became a powerful national politician...
Brown entered the academy on June 30, 1945 and graduated on June 3, 1949. He was an accomplished athlete, running cross-country with Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
, the 39th president, who was also a Naval Academy graduate. The recently published Breaking the Color Barrier: The US Naval Academy’s First Black Midshipmen and the Struggle for Racial Equality documents the experiences of the first five African Americans admitted to the academy and the challenges Brown and the others faced.
Post-Naval career
Brown retired at the rank of Lieutenant Commander in June 1969 after serving 20 years in the Navy's Civil Engineer CorpsCivil Engineer Corps
The Civil Engineer Corps is a staff corps of the United States Navy. CEC officers are professional engineers and architects, acquisitions specialists and Seabee Combat Warfare Officers. They are responsible for executing and managing the planning, design, acquisition, construction, operation, and...
. There Brown was responsible for building military service member homes in Hawaii, roads in Liberia, wharves in the Philippines, a nuclear power plant in Antarctica, and a desalination plant in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. When he retired, Brown consulted on construction projects and joined the faculty at Howard University
Howard University
Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...
as a physical facilities analyst. He served as chairman of DC's Congressional Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton’s Service Academy Selection Board.
Brown and his wife Crystal have four children and seven grandchildren. Their daughter Carol Jackson chairs the California Division of the American Cancer Society
American Cancer Society
The American Cancer Society is the "nationwide community-based voluntary health organization" dedicated, in their own words, "to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy, and...
as well as heading the External Affairs and Diversity Management departments at Macy's West
Macy's West
Macy's West was a longtime division of Macy's, Inc. , representing one of the New York-based department store chain's earliest notable acquisitions and westward expansions...
. Brown is a volunteer motivational speaker and particularly enjoys talking with DC high school students and midshipmen of the USNA Black Studies Club during Black History Month
Black History Month
Black History Month is an observance of the history of the African diaspora in a number of countries outside of Africa. Since 1976, it is observed annually in the United States and Canada in February, while in the United Kingdom it is observed in October...
.
Awards and honors
Republic of the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, Korea, Vietnam and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
Medals:
American Theater Ribbon and World War II Victory Medal
On the campus of the U.S. Naval Academy is the Wesley Brown Field House
Wesley Brown Field House
The Wesley Brown Field House is a sports arena at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It is located between the 7th Wing of Bancroft Hall and Santee Basin. The facility houses physical education, varsity sports, club sports, and personal-fitness programs and equipment...
, named in honor of Wesley Brown. Ground was broken for the new field house in a ceremony at the Academy on March 25, 2006. Brown wielded a shovel in the groundbreaking
Groundbreaking
Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such ceremonies are often attended by dignitaries such as politicians and...
.
The building was completed in March 2008. It was dedicated on May 10, 2008. Brown participated in the ribbon-cutting ceremony
Ribbon cutting ceremony
]A ribbon cutting ceremony is a public ceremony conducted to inaugurate the opening to the general public of a new building or business.Often, the ceremony is conducted in just the manner the name suggests: by tying a ceremonial ribbon across the main entrance of the building, which is then cut in...
with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen, Naval Academy Superintendent Vice Adm. Jeffrey L. Fowler, and Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley. Also present were almost one thousand guests.
Brown is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha
Alpha Phi Alpha
Alpha Phi Alpha is the first Inter-Collegiate Black Greek Letter fraternity. It was founded on December 4, 1906 at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Its founders are known as the "Seven Jewels". Alpha Phi Alpha developed a model that was used by the many Black Greek Letter Organizations ...
fraternity.