March is Women‘s History Month, so it seems appropriate to honor some women firsts.
Amy Bauernschmidt was recently selected as the first female captain of an aircraft carrier. This has been a long time coming. In 1916, in response to new technologies and the need for capable workers, the Naval Reserve Act asked “all PERSONS who may be capable of performing special useful services for coastal defense” to join the Naval Reserve Forces. Over 11,000 women eventually took up the call.
Yeomanettes (“yeowomen” never caught on) performed mostly clerical duties, but some served as technical specialists such as radio operators, electricians, and chemists. Surprisingly, most were paid the same as men – this before women were granted the right to vote in 1920.
The majority were stationed in Washington. At the time, nurses in the military were considered civilian employees. A few, “The Golden Fourteen,” were Black, and ultimately grew to twenty-four. Many were from some of the most prestigious Black families in the country. These women were remarkable because they had access to sensitive military information as a part of their duties.
By contrast, Black sailors were relegated to menial labor and restricted to serving as messmen, stewards, or coal stokers until WWII. That is why the first hero of WWII, Dorrie Miller, was a mess cook, not a gunner’s mate. Untrained, he manned a machine gun and shot down several Japanese planes during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Miller was the first African-American awarded the Navy Cross and was killed when his ship went down in 1943 – still a mess cook.
The Black yeomanettes served quietly and with distinction, and their story was almost lost to history until military historians rediscovered these remarkable women.
I look forward to hearing more about them like the Hidden Figures women “computers” who helped NASA launch men to space.
