Naval Title Receives Federal Award

Breaking the Color Barrier: The U.S. Naval Academy's First Black Midshipmen and the Struggle for Racial Equality has been awarded the Society for History in the Federal Government's George Pendleton Prize for 2005. The book, written by Robert Schneller, Jr., Contemporary History Branch, Naval Historical Center, examines the black community’s efforts to integrate the Naval Academy, as well as the experiences that black midshipmen encountered at Annapolis.

"Describes for the first time the difficulties Wesley Brown endured and the concerted effort by a ‘tight knot’ of southern upperclassmen to oust him using racial epithets, ostracism, and demerits." --Washington Post

"Traces the long and bitter struggle to integrate the U.S. Naval Academy. . . an engrossing account of how an American institution struggled to deal with its racist past and ultimately triumphed in the fight to become integrated." --Shipmate Magazine

This is the second award that he has received for this book. It has already been awarded the 2006 Richard W. Leopold Prize from the Organization of American Historians.

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