ABSTRACT
The United States Navy and the military force dependent upon it to deploy to distant places, the United States Marine Corps, initially completely barred black Americans. Although the Navy relaxed its policy as early as 1807, the Marine Corps remained a “white bastion” until World War II. The Coast Guard, which was not offi cially established until 1915, admitted blacks as early as 1831 when it was still known as the Revenue Service.
