Sixty years ago next month, the Navy commissioned its first African American line officers at the Great Lakes, Illinois, Naval Training Station. The group included 12 ensigns and a warrant officer. Collectively known as the Golden Thirteen, they are (left to right, front row) James Hair, Samuel Barnes, George Cooper, William Sylvester White, Dennis Nelson, (middle row) Graham Martin, Charles Lear, Phillip Barnes, Reginald Goodwin, and (top row) John Reagan, Jesse Arbor, Dalton Baugh, and Frank Sublett. Three of these history makers—Martin, Sublett, and White—still are living. For more on this group, see The Golden Thirteen: Recollections of the First Black Naval Officers (Naval Institute Press, 1993). This and other photos are available as prints through the Naval Institute Photo Archive. You may place orders or leave messages 24 hours a day at 1-800-233-8764.