James Reese Europe Jr. never heard of the phrase “checkerboard ship” until the Harlem native tried to sail with the merchant marine during World War II. “We don’t ship checkerboard,” he was told. “I didn’t know what the term meant,” Europe said. “He explained to me that it meant two different colors together.” Europe was told he should go to sea as a cook, like other blacks. But with backing from civil-rights groups, a determined Europe did more than sail as a merchant seaman. By war’s end, he became an officer.
Europe’s passion for fighting racism was handed down to him by his father, a composer who became the first African-American to play Carnegie Hall. Jim Europe Jr. shared the same scrappy temperament. His independence bloomed early, because both parents died before he turned 13. “He basically had to fight for himself,” his daughter, Lynn Europe-Cotter, recalled.
His biggest fight came when World War II erupted and Europe wanted to serve his country—with dignity. “I tried the Army, but it was still segregated, so I refused to join,” he said. “They were talking about taking blacks into the Marine Corps, so I went there and they said no. I went to the Navy and the Coast Guard, and they said I could only come in as a mess- man or steward, so I turned them down. So about a week later I saw in the newspaper ‘Merchant Seamen Needed,’ so I went down and they signed me right up.”
When he graduated from basic training in 1942, he was qualified to sail as an ordinary seaman. “I went to a union hall to sign up for a ship. There was no seaman’s organization that would take a black person as anything other than a messman or steward.” So the government sent Europe to a Navy base in California where a roster was maintained of qualified seamen awaiting assignment to a ship. “They were supposed to draw from a list in the order of when you came,” he said. “But when they got to my name they would just skip over and go to somebody else.”
That’s when Europe decided to write to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. “I said that despite the fact that the government is spending lots of money to train seamen and we’re at war with a fascist country, they were not shipping Negroes and I thought it was a waste of the government’s money. It became a big issue.”
Because of the furor, Europe managed to get aboard the Liberty ship Peter J. Maguire as a wiper. The Marine Oilers, Water Tenders, and Wipers Association demanded he be removed. But Europe had his supporters, so he remained part of the crew. With his captain’s recommendation, he next went to officer candidate school in New London, Connecticut, where he was the only black person. Graduating in March 1945, he eventually he found his way aboard the George Gipp. “Whenever I walked into the officer’s mess, the other officers would get up and walk out,” he recalled. Crew members followed his orders reluctantly. But by war’s end, Europe made three cruises on two ships.
By December 1946, Europe had been promoted to lieutenant. But without the issue of fighting fascism, efforts to desegregate the Merchant Marine dissipated. He spent 16 years with the New York City Fire Department, then earned a master’s degree in social work.
Europe said that what kept him going through all the adversity he faced was his strong character. “I’ve always been stubborn about being as good as anybody,” he said. When he died in December 2001 at the age of 84, his ashes were scattered from a merchant vessel after a memorial service at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy chapel.
