Background
Wesley Brown was born April 3, 1927, in Baltimore, Maryland.
Wesley Brown was born April 3, 1927, in Baltimore, Maryland.
He graduated from Dunbar High School in Washington, District of Columbia, where he was Cadet Corps Battalion Commander during his senior year. He was nominated for admission and later appointed to USNA, by New York Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Junior. Brown entered the academy on June 30, 1945 and graduated on June 3, 1949.
He served in the Korean War and the Vietnam War and served in the United States. Navy from May 2, 1944, until June 30, 1969. He became the first in his family to attend college, at Howard University. A retired naval officer, Lieutenant
Commander
Brown was the sixth African American to attend, and the first to graduate from the United States. Naval Academy. The experiences of the first five African Americans admitted to the academy and the challenges Brown and the others faced are documented in the book Breaking the Color Barrier: The United States Naval Academy’s First Black Midshipmen and the Struggle for Racial Equality, written by Navy historian Robert J. Schneller Junior. Brown retired at the rank of Lieutenant Commander in June 1969 after serving 20 years in the Navy"s Civil Engineer Corps.
There Brown was responsible for building military service member homes in Hawaii, roads in Liberia, wharves in the Philippines, a nuclear power plant in Antarctica, and a desalination plant in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
When he retired, Brown consulted on construction projects and joined the faculty at Howard University as a physical facilities analyst. He served as chairman of District of Columbia"s Congressional Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton’s Service Academy Selection Board.
He retired from the University. Brown died aged 85 on May 22, 2012 in Silver Spring, Maryland. he was recognized with the 2009 National Society of Black Engineers Golden Torch Legacy Award-First Honoree.
Brown was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.