The golden thirteen: how Black men won the right to wear Navy gold

"We're sending you up to Great Lakes."

"Don't put your time in Negroes."

"I just don't believe you can do the job."

"We are discriminated against in every way."

"Would it be demanding too much to demand full citizenship?"

"A cordial spirit of experimentation"

"As good as any fighting men the US Navy has"

"You are now men of Hampton."

"I feel very emphatically that we should commission a few Negroes."

"You can make me an officer, but my parents made me a gentleman."

"His intelligence and judgment are exceptional."

"You forget the color and remember the rank."

"There is that salute you never got."