Captain Hugh Mulzac

By 1920, Mulzac passed the examination as a U.S. shipmaster, but there were no shipboard berths available to a black captain. Although he held a master’s license, which qualified him to be a ship’s captain, he worked for the next 20 years mostly in the steward’s department of various shipping lines. This was the only shipboard work he could find, and he became an expert in foodservice management. With the outbreak of World War II, Mulzac recognized an opportunity to use his license and command a vessel. At age 56, he was named master of the new Liberty ship Booker T. Washington, christened by legendary opera singer Marian Anderson. Mulzac insisted on having an integrated crew, not the all-black crew that had been planned. The U.S. Maritime Commission relented, and Booker T. Washington made 22 round-trip voyages with Mulzac at the helm.

https://www.wnyc.org/story/hugh-mulzac-captain-victim-survivor/