Woman of Color Becomes Navy's First Female Four-Star Admiral [View all]
On Friday, President Obama nominated Vice Admiral Michelle Howard to be the vice chief of naval operations. If confirmed, Howard will not only be the first woman to become a full admiral, but will also be the first woman and the first African-American to hold the Navy's number 2 position.
This isn't Howard's first time breaking the glass ceiling. She was the first African-American woman to command a U.S. Navy warship, as well as the first to command an expeditionary strike group at sea. She was also the first female Naval Academy graduate to become a rear-admiral.
Howard herself has spoken out on being a minority woman commanding a warship. As she told Time:
"For some of the sailors, it was a big deal—not because of the woman thing, but because of the African-American thing. I literally had people coming up, wanting to have their picture taken with me—this is the first time this has happened, where a minority woman has had command of a ship.
She also praised the Navy for prizing meritocracy over racial or gender preference: "What's great about the Navy is that, despite the few knuckleheads that exist, there are a lot of folks who are professional and who will grade you on your performance and not on how you look."
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