FREEMAN-JANE

The United States Naval Reserve (Women’s Reserve), better known as the WAVES (for Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), was established on July 21, 1942, when signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.  The Secretary of the Navy, Frank Knox, announced that African-American WAVES would be enlisted “over my dead body”.  After Knox’s death in April 1944, his successor moved to reform the Navy’s racial policy and on July 28, 1944, submitted a proposal to Roosevelt that WAVES be recruited on an integrated basis.  Roosevelt approved the proposal on October 19, 1944, and on December 21, 1944, two African-American women were simultaneously sworn into the WAVES as officers.  The recruitment of African-American women into the enlisted ranks began the following week.

The National Archives and Records Administration holds a photograph with the notation: “Miss Jane Freeman, 22, of Roxbury, Massachusetts, is taking the oath as a Navy WAVE at district headquarters in Boston.  She is being sworn in by Captain D. Causey, USN (retired), director of the Office of Naval Officer Procurement.  Miss Freeman is the first African-American enlisted WAVE in the New England area to be inducted.”

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)