iting substantial numbers of white seamen for the Steward's
Branch.[16-96] In answer, the Chief of Naval Personnel could only
point out that no matter what their qualifications or ambitions all
men assigned to the Steward's Branch were volunteers. As one
commentator observed, white sailors were very rarely attracted to the
messmen's field because of its reputation as a black specialty.[16-97]

[Footnote 16-95: See, for example, ASD/M, Thursday
Reports, 7 Jan 54 and 12 Apr 56, copies in Dep ASD
(Civil Rights) files; see also Memo, Chief,
NavPers, for Special Asst to SecDef, 29 Mar 61,
sub: Stewards in U.S. Navy, BuPersRecs.]

[Footnote 16-96: Memo, Adam Yarmolinsky for Fred
Dutton, 31 Oct 61, sub: Yarmolinsky Memo of October
26, Harris Wofford Collection, J. F. Kennedy
Library.]

[Footnote 16-97: Greenberg, _Race Relations and
American Law_, p. 359.]

Nevertheless, by 1961 a definite pattern of change had emerged in the
Steward's Branch. The end of separate recruitment drastically cut the
number of Negroes entering the rating, while the renewed emphasis on
transferring eligible chief stewards to other specialties somewhat
reduced the number of Negroes already in the branch. Between 1956 and
1961, some 600 men out of the 1,800 tested transferred to other rating
groups or fields. The substantial drop in black strength resulting
from these changes combined with a corresponding rise in the number of
contract messmen from the western Pacific region reduced for the first
time in some thirty years Negroes in the Steward's Branch to a
minority. Even for those remaining in the branch, life changed
considerably. Separate berthing for stewards, always justified on the
grounds of different duties and hours, was discontinued, and the
amount of time spent by stewards at sea, with the varied military work
that sea duty involved, was increased.[16-98]

[Footnote 16-98: Memo, Chief, NavPers, for Special
Asst to SecDef, 29 Mar 61, sub: Stewards in U.S.
Navy, Pers 8 (4), GenRecsNav.]

If these changes caused by the increased enlistment of stewards from
the western Pacific relieved the Steward's Branch of its reputation as
the black man's navy, they also perpetuated the not