Courageous People

This passage is about a man named Carl Brashear, the first African American Navy diver.

Lexile Level: 420L

Categories: History People & Places

When Carl M. Brashear went to the join the Army, the people were not friendly to him. He left and went to the Navy office. The people were nicer. He joined the Navy. It was 1948, and Brashear was seventeen years old. He was African American. He saw the divers in the Navy. It made him want to be a deep-sea diver. In 1954, he got into the Navy diving school. He graduated even though some people did not like it. They were not happy because of his skin color. In 1966, he hurt his leg. Doctors had to remove part of his leg, but that did not stop him. He worked hard. He went back to work as a diver. That was the first time a diver in the Navy had ever done that. Brashear was in the Navy for thirty years. Cuba Gooding Jr. played him in the movie "Men of Honor."