|
We bring Pinkney’s story to your attention now because February is Black History Month, which was officially recognized by President Gerald Ford in 1976 to "honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history."
Our own website highlights the role of Black Americans close to home in the WWII Marinship shipyard. A key civil rights accomplishment from that era involved Joseph James, who brought the lawsuit that desegregated unions that had been closed to blacks. His story can be found in the archives of the Sausalito Historical Society. Thurgood Marshall, who represented Joseph James, would later say, “Equal means getting the same thing, at the same time and in the same place.”
At Call of the Sea, we are determined to make sure that our ships, our programs, and our workforce are equally accessible to all. We aim to increase scholarship support this year by over 100% for schools and students who otherwise cannot afford to participate. Bill Pinkney may have put it best when he said, “The sea doesn't care what your economic status is. Your religion, your nationality, your sex, it doesn't care what you think. It cares about one thing: I am the sea.”
| 
