Blackford boards the Mason on Commissioning Day.

Before his assignment on Mason, Lt. Commander William M. Blackford had skippered USS Phoebe, a minesweeper working in the Aleutian Islands. When he went on active duty from the Naval Reserve in January 1941, he was two semesters short of finishing a Ph. D. in chemistry at the University of Virginia.

Although Mason's new captain said he wasn't "trying to solve the race problem" his crew members said they would "follow him to hell and back" and "he treated us man to man" -- great praise from any crew.

Bill Blackford's attitude may be best reflected in a letter to his parents, sent from Boston before commissioning, "Can't figure out why I was picked but will do the best I can -- really quite an opportunity to do something."

The Navy would have allowed Blackford to decline the command. He (along with the other white officers) signed a document stating, "I consent to and accept this assignment ... after having been advised of the fact that a colored drew will be assigned to the vessel."

Maybe heredity or destiny brought Lt. Commander Blackford to lead this history-making ship. The man affectionately referred to as "Big Bill" was the great grandson of abolitionist Mary Berkeley Minor Blackford who opposed slavery from her home in Virginia.

"There has been a lot of bunk about the Negro crews ...They are anxious to make a name for themselves and actually work harder." - "Big Bill" Blackford from a letter to his parents

Mary Blackford and the Female Antislavery Petition Campaign in Fredericksburg

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