Retired Master Chief Carl Brashear, the Navy’s first black master diver, is scheduled to speak at the annual “Profiles in Excellence: African American History in Lake County” program.
Brashear’s story inspired the movie “Men of Honor,” released last year by Twentieth Century Fox.
The program is sponsored by the Lake County Forest Preserve District’s Greenbelt Cultural Center and Great Lakes Naval Training Center. The schedule includes remarks by Rear Adm. David Polatty, Great Lakes commander, and Al Westerman, president of the Forest Preserve District.
Performances by North Chicago and Waukegan high school students and several church choirs are also scheduled.
Brashear, the keynote speaker, joined the Navy in 1948, when he was 17. It was the same year the service was desegregated by presidential order. After completing boot camp at Great Lakes, he went on to overcome significant barriers to become the first black master diver.
Brashear successfully fought to stay in the Navy after he lost part of his leg in an accident in 1966.
“Profiles in Excellence: African American History in Lake County” will be presented from 3 to 6 p.m. Sunday in Ross Auditorium at Great Lakes Naval Training Center.
The program includes a screening of “Men of Honor.” The main gate to the base is on Sheridan Road north of Buckley Road in North Chicago.
