no honorable mention

My son Jordan B. Smith III encouraged me to write this book and now I know it should have been written. In review of U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, October 1995 memories of Naval Academy graduates makes no mention of Wesley Brown as being the first Black to graduate in 105 years in 1949.  It was not an important event to even give an honorable mention.   In 2013, Ross H. MacKenzie presents an excellent description of who the Color Company Commander is and displays a picture of the Color Company Commander and the color person (female) transferring the colors to the color guard (Mackenzie, 2013) in sharp contrast to the Annapolis Creed historic event in 1976.   Mackenzie's son, Ross H. updates his fathers original version because of the many changes in academy policy.  The Brief Points is meat to be jokingly but serious as a handbook to help parents and incoming midshipmen to adapt. It includes the following above picture (left) of the Color Company Commander not naming the year.

The Naval Institute publishes in 2015 the book "The United States Naval Academy History" with no mention of any Black graduates of distinction (Cutler, 2015).  No one would have known my story unless it was written as an autobiography.  

Excerpt from Annapolis  Creed

Chapter 10
​
The night before my selection as the Color Company Commander many of my classmates were trying to ....

​~Annapolis Creed