Printed envelope addressed to "Miss Harriet Ida Pickens, Reserve Lieutenant of the U.S. Navy WA…

Harriet I. Pickens

BiographyHarriet I. Pickens, from New York, was one of only two Black officers in the U.S. Navy WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) during World War II. She was a daughter of William Pickens, an active member of the NAACP. Harriet Pickens graduated from Smith College and then received a master's degree in political science from Columbia University.

The U.S. Navy established the WAVES in 1942 but did not enlist Black women until 1944. In December 1944, Pickens and Frances Wills became the first Black officers in the WAVES. Both women were assigned to the WAVES training station at the Bronx campus of Hunter College in New York City. Pickens worked as a physical training instructor. Pickens and Wills remained the only two Black officers in the WAVES for the duration of the war.

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