Born in Baltimore City in 1927, Wesley Brown became the first black man to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1949. He later retired as a lieutenant commander in the Navy Civil Engineer Corps. The academy named its new field house after Brown, who ran track at the academy, and is hosting a dedication ceremony Saturday for the 140,000-square-foot facility. Brown answered questions Tuesday about the building and diversity at the academy.
Do you think the academy should do more to push diversity among its candidates?
We should get the best and brightest, no matter who they are. As you look around here now, you see of lot of minorities, as well as women … I don?t care what the numbers are. I know that the numbers are out there to go beyond what we have now, and I believe the Navy should go after them. I hope they use this building symbolically to draw attention to the diversity of the Navy and the Naval Academy.
How does it feel to havethe new field house named after you, considering you ran track?
I don?t think they named it after me because I was a stellar athlete … I worked six nights a week, so I couldn?t play team sports. The Navy, in its wisdom, probably felt naming [the building] after the first African-American graduate might be symbolic in terms of diversity. … It also happened to be the next building available.
What kind of advice do you give to midshipmen or those wishing to come to the academy?
Avoid fighting the things you can?t change, and really concentrate on things you can do something about.
