by Herb Boyd
There is much recent discussion about D-Day, the landing of U.S. troops in Normandy, France in 1944, an arrival that was pivotal to ending World War II, but only a passing nod has been given to the role of African Americans in the event, and even less mention of Black women in uniform. Several months after D-Day, Frances Wills and Harriet Pickens were the first two African American women commissioned by the U.S. Navy. We focus on Pickens this week and in the future will profile Wills.
Pickens was born March 17, 1909 in Talladega, Alabama and she was the daughter of William Pickens, a noted educator and civil rights leader, and more will be said about him later.
She earned her undergraduate degree from Smith College and later studied at Columbia University and Bennett College for Women. Andrew Zimmerman, in an article posted online at Women Offshore, picks up on her adventurous life. “When World War II broke out, Pickens was working as a public health administrator, but was not allowed to enlist until 1944, after the Navy allowed formally decided to integrate the WAVES [Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service] program….Both Pickens and Wills volunteered immediately and were chosen to be part of the last class to go through the Naval Women Midshipmen’s School at Smith College.” Zimmerman noted that both started behind in the program “but had no problem catching up and exceeding expectations.”
Pickens not only caught up, Zimmerman added, but exceeded all expectations. “According to historical records, Harriet Pickens not only caught up to her fellow classmates, but finished at the top of her WAVES commissioning class,” Zimmerman wrote.
In December, both women graduated and were commissioned as the first African-American women in the U.S. Navy. They were assigned to the same base at Hunter Naval Training Station in the Bronx. Here, Pickens, a lieutenant (and the first Black woman to earn this distinction) was in charge of the physical training phase while Ensign Wills taught naval history and administered classification tests to WAVES recruits. After the war, Pickens returned to work as a public health administrator for the Harlem Tuberculosis Office and the New York City Commission on Human Rights. She also worked for several years at the New York City Commission on Human Rights.
Pickens was eleven years old when her father, William Pickens, then a leading figure in the NAACP, signed a letter with eight others demanding that Marcus Garvey, founder and head of Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), “Garvey Must Go!” The letter to the U.S. Department of Justice charged that Garvey had mismanaged his organization. Later, Pickens, believing that Garvey’s sentence was excessive and racially motivated, wrote a letter in 1927 to the New Republic magazine calling for the leader’s release from prison. That same year President Coolidge commuted Garvey’s sentence and had him deported.
In 1969, Pickens suffered a stroke and died in New York City. She was 60 years old.