On the Fruit of Affirmative Action

CGA’s 19th black graduate reflects and reminisces on his Academy and CG experience and the importance of community.

By CDR Timothy E. Tilghman, USCG (ret), ’75

The author seen here (second from the left) at the CGA Chapel with Elijah Flynn ’75 (far left), Patrick LeSesne ’75 (third from the left) and Earl Burns ’77 (far right) writes, “My class was the first in the history of the Academy to graduate every black cadet.”

Iwas elated to read that Marcus Canady ’00 was selected for captain, and in my enthusiasm, I dialed his number to extend congratulations, forgetting that he commanded Air Station Houston and was in the midst of the response to two hurricanes that came into the Gulf of Mexico. So, I called Marcus’ father, Alan Canady. We reminisced about gatherings of black folk at cookouts in and around Yorktown. That’s where I remember encountering a toddler named “Canady” in the early 1980s. This is a continuation of that reminiscing and reflecting.

In the 99th year of the US Coast Guard Academy, 1975, I became the 19th black graduate of what I believe to be the best of the five federal service academies. I was admitted to the Academy because of affirmative action, a fact of life that left an indelible imprint on me. In 1975, people at the Academy were constantly reminding me that I got to the Academy because of affirmative action. No one who reminded me bothered to check my record. Our Academy has a tradition of publishing a profile of the “typical Academy appointee.” As I recall from 1971, that typical freshman or Swab was in the top 10 percent of his high school graduating class, in the National Honor Society, recognized as a National Merit Scholar, averaged 1200 on the SATs with a math score 100 points higher than his verbal score, earned a letter in a varsity sport and was recognized for civic or community service.

I graduated from Joel Elias Spingarn High School in Washington, DC in June 1971. I was #10 in a class of nearly 300, a member of the National Honor Society, received honorable mention as a National Merit Scholar and scored 1200 on my SAT (670 Math, 530 Verbal), earned two varsity football letters and the Civitan Honor Key for exceptional community service. No one asked about my record and no one checked my credentials. Everyone who said, “You are at the Academy because of affirmative action,” implied that it was my color, not my credentials that got me in. The implication was that I did not meet the standard for admission. It often appeared that those who were not

supportive of affirmative action often worked to make life at the Academy and in the Service more complicated for me and my black contemporaries because they believed that we were admitted because we were black and not because we were good.

The big question for the black cadet, at that time, was “How do I succeed in an environment that is not ready to receive me, and includes social structures that work against my success?” For me, the first effective coping mechanism at the Academy was the announcement: “there will be a meeting of all black cadets in room XXX;” this certainly heightened racial tension at the Academy in the 1970s. Black cadets were asked the question: “Why do you have to meet with black cadets?” It was not uncommon to hear the retort: “We are going to call a meeting of all “white” cadets,” not realizing that in fact, the Academy was a meeting of all white cadets from 1876 until the 1970s when blacks took deliberate action to meet. This effort to establish and sustain a community within the larger community was successful; the hard data supporting this success? My class was the first in the history of the Academy to graduate every black cadet (Flynn, Lesesne, Gusman, Tilghman and Lawrence) that entered, and, it was the nucleus of cadets in the 1970s with faculty (Roger Guyas, Hallie Gregory and Harold Cheatham) that formed the Genesis Club. Of course, Genesis is now part of the Academy culture and a model support system to promote diversity; I have heard “let’s do it for the women” in some informal circles.

The community within the larger community is critical to assure the success of the minority cadet and the minority officer, and to enhance the mission effectiveness of the Academy and the Service. A key relationship in the establishment of Genesis was the arrival of a freshman coach and physical education teacher during Swab Summer 1971. Coach Hallie Gregory came to the Academy because Donald Pinhey thought he would be good for the Academy, and extended the invitation to a young, talented student athlete that he encountered prior to his long stint at the Academy. Pinhey’s invitation changed the face of the Academy. Just look at the list of cadets and faculty who graduated and contributed to the mission of the Academy and our Service because they encountered Coach Gregory. Coach Gregory is typical of talent from the minority communities, talent that we miss when we fail to invite those who are different to bring their gifts into the mix. As Coach Pinhey did for him, Dr. Gregory invited Coach Pinhey’s son to coach at University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES), and continued a Tilghman family tradition, walking with my daughter Angela from freshman orientation through graduation at UMES.

Cross-cultural relationships are the foundation of mission success. I point to the highlight of my 23 years of active service, command of USCGC FORWARD (WMEC-911). From the day I showed up at the Academy, I counted the number of blacks who commanded big cutters before me (Healy in the 1870s; Samuels in the 1940s; Witherspoon and Jones in the 1980s). LT Merle J. Smith ’66 commanded a WPB in Viet Nam. He and LT London Steverson ’68 were current events. I knew John Witherspoon and Joseph Jones ’72, but never had the opportunity to serve with them. I am eternally grateful to my commanding officers (Robert Overton III ’55, Bill Pierson, David Parr ’60, Bill Wilkinson ’60, James McEntire ’72, Robert Young ’73 and Louis Orsini ’73) and others who encouraged and taught me how to be a sailor (Jim Loy ’64, Bob Thorne ’69, Bob Bates ’63, Carl Smith ’72, Rube Olsen ’69, Thad Allen ’71, Bud Buechler, Bob Glynn ’69, and Bill McGrath).

“The community within the larger community is critical to assure the success of the minority cadet and the minority officer,” writes Tilghman seen below at his graduation June 1975 and as a 2/c in the Fall of 1973 on the right.

“I point to the highlight of my 23 years of active service, command of USCGC FORWARD (WMEC-911),” writes Tilghman, seen at his Change of Command ceremony above. “From the day I showed up at the Academy, I counted the number of blacks who commanded big cutters before me...”

I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the contributions of my Academy contemporaries who were not classmates, especially those who came after me. Earl Burns ’77, Curt Odom ’77, Manson Brown ’78, from my hometown, Bennie Harrison ’78, Charles Rice ’79 and Robert Mobley ’79. This is not everybody. Manson Brown ’78 and Bennie Harrison ’78 came with expectations that I would mentor and set a high standard for them so I upped my game as a cadet. The late Charles Rice ’79 and Robert Mobley ’79 thought they were coming into a “lily-white” environment, and were pleasantly surprised to see me as their summer ensign; it meant something for them to see an authority figure that looked like them in a position of authority and power in an institution that they thought was “lily-white.” In the years after my first wife died, suddenly and violently, Earl Burns ’77 was a constant companion to help me regain balance in my life; his classmate, Curt Odom ’77 called me every year from the early 1980s until I enrolled in grad school in 1992. Curt Odom ’77 was part of the Darlington, SC connection – Allen Thompson ’74, Elijah Flynn ’75, Curt Odom ’77 and Ted Gandy ’80 who treated me like I was from Darlington while at the Academy.

This story began with Marcus Canady’s selection for captain. I met MK1 Alan Canady and his family in 1979 shortly after my assignment to the Reserve Training Center, Yorktown where MK1 Canady was an instructor at MK School while I taught at Officer Candidate School. We acquired a mutual friend when he left Yorktown for a 378 where LCDR Erroll Brown ’72 was his engineer, relationships continue to this day. While such a line existed for a young whites seeking to enter the Academy since 1876, because of affirmative action, CAPT (Select) Marcus Canady ’00 is part of the first generation of blacks that can look back and see a line of people that looked like him who were connected to the Service, and by extension, connected to him for his entire life. His Academy and Service experience was different and exponentially better. Better, but not easy because vestiges of racism and unwillingness to fully embrace diversity still exist in the neighborhood, nation, the world, our Academy and our Service. This is not an attack on the Academy; it is an indisputable fact of our Coast Guard lives. The solution and key to continued success in promoting affirmative action and diversity is to do what Coach Gregory coached us to do: “If you know better, then do better; make it better for everybody!”

Timothy Tilghman enjoyed each of his 23 years of commissioned service, especially his time at sea which culminated in his assignment as CO, USCGC FORWARD (WMEC-911) in 1995, and in mission support as an instructor at the Coast Guard Officer Candidate School 1979-82), at Atlantic Area (1987-90) when it assumed operational control of the cutter fleet, and at Headquarters (1992-95) devising readiness plans for expanded Coast Guard participation in defense readiness and all-hazards response operations. He holds masters’ degrees in Public Administration from The George Washington University and in Theology from St. Mary’s Seminary & University Ecumenical Institute and was ordained a permanent deacon for the Archdiocese of Washington in June 2010. He authored Going to the Well to Build Community, ACTA Publications in September 2016. He and his wife Jennifer have a real estate business in the DC Metro Area which supports their work in neighborhood ministry.