Academy's first African-American graduate honored

The first African American to graduate from the Naval Academy spent his entire four years there without a roommate.

That was by choice, since Retired Lt. Cmdr. Wesley Brown, Class of 1949, didn't want the academy to order an unwilling white to room with him, and he didn't want to subject friendlier whites to abuse.

"I didn't want to have to worry about them or feel responsible (for them)," he said in an interview.

At a luncheon in his honor in Annapolis yesterday, he said he doesn't resent those who tried to force him out of school.

Despite the gratitude showered on him by the audience of about 80 of his classmates...