The Negro Sailor

Creator(s): Department of the Navy. Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. Naval Observatory. 1942-9/18/1947 (Most Recent)
Series: Navy Motion Picture Film Productions, ca. 1939 - ca. 1947
Record Group 80: General Records of the Department of the Navy, 1804 - 1983
Production Date: 1945
Scope & Content (historic): Emphasizes integration, advancement based on ability, equal treatment, and team work in the Navy. Reel 1: Black newspaper employee is drafted. All phases of Navy boot camp are represented as integrated and equal. Shows physicals, clothing procurement, barracks inspection, KP and social activities. Reel 2: Names black non-combatants who received distinguished Navy Service Awards for bravery: Doris (Dorie) Miller, Elbert H. Oliver, William Pinckney, and Leonard Roy Harmon. Points out that all Navy ratings are open to black Americans and shows black sailors learning navigation, radio operation, aviation mechanics, and other specialties. Reel 3: On a destroyer with a predominantly black crew, blacks fill all positions except commissioned officers. Shows ship in battle action and blacks in Ordnance and CB battalions. Closes with commentary on how blacks and whites have fought side by side to keep America free throughout history.
Contact(s): National Archives at College Park - Motion Pictures (RDSM), National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road
College Park, MD 20740-6001
Phone: [phone], Fax: [phone], Email: [e-mail]
National Archives Identifier: 13034
Local Identifier: 80-MN-4360
catalog.archives.gov/id/13034