Ships Named After Famous Black People in WWII: Eighteen Liberty Ships

 "I'm going to join the Merchant Marines!," a young man who wanted to see the world would often shout in the classic movies. But what exactly did they mean?

The term Merchant Marines refers to the commercial ships or fleet of a nation and to the people who operate them. The United States Merchant Marines also serves as an auxiliary of the Navy in time of war or national emergency, transporting goods or materials needed by the Armed Forces. The United States Merchant Marine has played a vital role in every national conflict since 1775, and played a particularly large and vital part in World War II.      From: marad.dot.gov

                                                                Source: veteranstoday.org

Persons who served in the Merchant Marines are known as mariners, sailors, commercial sailors or seafarers. This organization suffered a high rate of casualties during World War II and were recognized for their impact in 1988 by a federal court. The Merchant Marines had 24,000 African Americans that served in the integrated Merchant Marines during World War II. In a previous post on the Navy's USS Mason, I wrote about the significance of the ship being named after an African American. He was an ensign who was killed in battle.




                                                   Famous Opera Singer Marian Anderson
                                                    christening the Liberty Ship Booker T. Washington.

 

                                                             Source:btwsociety.org

 

 Merchant Marines had eighteen ships named after famous Black Americans in World War II. This was significant because... well, you already know why if you are a regular reader of this blog. They even had ships named after Historically Black Colleges and Universities.  Liberty Ships were a class of ships quickly constructed during WWII. There were over two thousand constructed and eighteen of the vessels were named after Famous Blacks in Military, Business, and History. Victory Ships were another class of ships. Four of the Victory ships were named after HBCUs.


When I brought up the Merchant Marines to my father, he stated that he had briefly considered joining them in his youth. I am familiar with some of the more famous Black people that the Liberty Ships are named after;  several were named after sailors. One ship was named after an entertainer. Singer and actor Bert Williams' tragic story saddened me. He was an intelligent man in real life, but donned black, minstrel show make-up and a completely dumbed down persona. Williams ended up dying from alcoholism in his forties. I viewed his performances on You Tube and developed an understanding of his dichotomy and inner struggle.

The remaining folks on the list represent individuals who left an enduring legacy in other realms of society. In reading the list, you have to agree that this was a strong class of American leaders.




LIBERTY SHIPS

1. Booker T. Washington- Leader in Black Community, founder of Tuskegee University.
2. George Washington Carver- Botanist, scientist and educator, inventor of peanut butter.
3. Frederick Douglass- Escaped slavery and became a noted writer and statesman.
4. John Merrick- Successful businessman, founder of North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Co.
5. Robert L. Vann- Editor of the Pittsburgh Courier, a national Black newspaper.
6. Paul Laurence Dunbar- Poet, first African American writer to gain wide attention.
7. James Weldon Johnson- Writer, lawyer, songwriter, leader of the NAACP.
8. John Hope- Educator, religious leader, first Black President of Atlanta University/Morehouse College
9.  John H. Murphy- Publisher of the Afro American.
10. Toussaint L'Ouverture- leader of the Haitian Independence movement, defeated Napoleon.
11. Robert S. Abbott- Lawyer, newspaper publisher of the Chicago Defender.
12. Harriet Tubman- Abolitionist, Union Spy, led slaves through Underground Railroad.
13. Edward A. Savoy- Traveled to Paris as a US Envoy after the Spanish American War.
14. Bert Williams- Vaudeville performer, actor, singer, best selling musical artist before 1920.
15. James Kyron Walker- Second cook, lost on the Gulfamerica when it was torpedoed.
16. Robert J. Banks- Messman on Gulfamerica, also killed after German attack.
17. William Cox- Fireman from sinking David Atwater gunned down by Germans.
18. George A. Lawson- Messman on the Tug Menominee which was torpedoed and sunk.

 VICTORY SHIPS

1. The Fisk University
2. The Tuskegee Victory
3. The Howard Victory
4. The Lane Victory

 

 

                                                                        Source: btwsociety.org
                                                                            Liberty Ship

 

Sources: usmm.org   www.wikipedia.org

Notes:
Lane College is a Coed, liberal arts college located in Jackson, TN. "The college played a significant role in reducing the rate of illiteracy among Blacks in the South in fewer than fifty years." lanecollege.edu




See Also:
A Montford Point Marine and Tuskegee Airmen In One Family  (for info on Historically Black Colleges and Universities)

 USS Mason: The World War II Ship With A Mostly Black Crew                                                        

The Person Who Influenced Dad's Decision In Joining The Marines

The fateful meeting with James Huger in Clifford Primus' hometown of  Daytona Beach, Florida obviously influenced the teenager. Even today, my father vividly described the six stripes up and six stripes down on Huger's uniform. James Huger, as my dad would say in his own parlance, "Is a heavy dude." Heavy meaning "serious and intense", for my English as a Second Language Readers.

Source: newsjournalonline.mycapture 

Mr. Huger credits two women for making a difference in his life:  His wife of 71 years, the late Phanye Huger, and Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune. Dr. Bethune founded Historically Black Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach, Florida. She was also close friends with Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and was a leader in civil rights. I envision Phanye Huger as a very supportive and intelligent woman; she was a school principal who I am willing to bet impacted many lives.

 Source: vintageblackglamour tumblr.com
Dr Bethune and students at the college* she founded. 

James Huger moved to Daytona Beach, Florida from West Palm Beach, Florida. His father was a prominent minister who housed Dr. Bethune at the Huger home in West Palm Beach, as people of color could not stay in hotels. Later on, James Huger worked at Bethune Cookman and earned a degree in Business Administration from West Virginia State University. Bethune helped him get a job in the War Department, and he enlisted into the U.S. Marine Corps in 1941. 1941 was the year that the Marine Corps finally accepted African-Americans. The Marines were the last branch of the American armed forces to do so.


James Huger also served as general secretary for Alpha Phi Alpha, Inc., the nation's first Black fraternity and service organization, in 1939.  It was Huger and several of his Alpha brothers who years later went to fellow Alpha brother Dr. Martin Luther King's Miami trial. Mr. Huger and his friends "were shocked how King was treated by his own attorney." Dr. King's attorney  referred to his client as that boy. (Iinformation obtained by Daytona Times, April 6, 2012.) Huger and others assisted Dr. King financially. They raised significant amounts of money for the civil rights movement.

Huger was asked by Bethune to be in charge of the first UNCF (United Negro College Fund) for Bethune Cookman-College. To date, UNCF has raised more than 2 billion dollars to help a total of more than 350,000 students to attend college, more than any entity outside of the government. (Source: UNCF.org)

Source: alumniunit.com

If you were African American and were fortunate enough to go to college in the South during the first half of the 1900s, you went to a Historically Black College or University (HBCU). Higher institutions of learning did not accept African Americans, hence Black land grant and private intuitions were established. Most were established after the American Civil War and in the South except for two in the state of Pennsylvania and two in Ohio. Ohio and Pennsylvania prohibited slavery;  three of these Northern HBCUs were established before the Civil War.     (Source: U.S. Department of Education, 2008-01-17, White House Initiative on HBCUs)

What better person to get my father to enlist in the Marines than James Huger? A hometown hero, college graduate, officer, and a man of honor?


*White Hall, a building on Bethune-Cookman's campus, is listed in the National Registry of Historical Sites