@blacktechfiles: He Had a Captain's License for 20 Years. No Ship Would Let Him Use It. Hugh Mulzac first Black merchant marine captain SS Booker T Washington Black captain WWII Hugh Mulzac integrated crew history hidden Black history maritime shipping Hugh Mulzac Marcus Garvey Black Star Line Black captain merchant marine WWII history Hugh Mulzac 20 years license unused #BlackTechFiles #HiddenHistory #HughMulzac #BlackHistory #WWIIHistory

Black Tech Files :

He passed the merchant marine captain's exam in 1918 with one of the highest scores in the test's history — and spent twenty years being told no ship would accept a Black captain — then when the war made them desperate enough to finally give him a vessel he refused an all Black crew and said he would only sail with a crew selected on merit alone. Twenty two voyages across the Atlantic during the most dangerous period of the war. Not one crew member lost. They made him wait twenty years and he didn't lose a single person. What does that say about what those twenty years actually cost?