Meet Sydney Barber: 1st black woman to lead the US Naval Academy
- A black lady, Sydney Barber, has achieved a great thing no woman of colour has been able to achieve in the US Navy Academy before
- Only a few women have been able to attain this level since the academy became open to female students
- Barber said her position as the head of the US Naval Academy has shown that she will be playing a big role in the annals of American history
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Sydney Barber has made history as the first black woman to serve as a Brigade Commander in the US Navy Academy.
USA Today reports that she will be the 16th woman to hold the highly esteemed position since women became welcome in the Naval Academy in 1972. It should be noted that the first woman to hold the position was Juliane Gallina in 1992.
In a statement, Barber said she is really humbled by it all, especially how it placed her to play a big role in American history.
Source: UGC
Barber is presently studying mechanical engineering and one day hopes to become a Marine Corps officer. The black woman said she was inspired by Jaine Mines who was the first black woman to graduate from the academy.
In response, Mines said the lady's comment really made her emotional.
It should be noted that Barber is not the only first black person to make history in the military recently. Madeline Swegle earlier in July became a fighter pilot.
Meanwhile, it was earlier reported that a Nigerian woman, Adeyemi Planche, joined the pool of the nation’s citizens making the country really proud among the comity of nations.
A senior officer with the American Navy, she was recognised as the Sailor of the Fiscal Year 2020, an achievement that came as a result of her dedication to work.
The Nigerian was given the plaque of recognition by the US secretary of Navy, Hon Kenneth J Braithwaite. After that, she got her MBA from the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomosho. Impressive achievements for sure.
While in Nigeria, she worked with both MTN and Ericsson. Getting to America, the Nigerian woman got a master's degree in the field of information technology management from Trident University International, California.
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Source: Briefly News
Denika Herbst (Editor) Denika Herbst is a Human Interest writer at Briefly News. She is also an Industrial Sociologist with a master's degree in Industrial Organisational and Labour Studies from the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, which she completed in 2020. She is now a PhD candidate at UKZN. Denika has over five years of experience writing for Briefly News (joined in 2018), and a short time writing for The South African. You can reach her via: denika.herbst@briefly.co.za.
Kelly Lippke (Senior Editor) Kelly Lippke is a copy editor/proofreader who started her career at the Northern-Natal Courier with a BA in Communication Science/Psychology (Unisa, 2007). Kelly has worked for several Caxton publications, including the Highway Mail and Northglen News. Kelly’s unique editing perspective stems from an additional major in Linguistics. Kelly joined Briefly News in 2018 and she has 14 years of experience. Kelly has also passed a set of trainings by Google News Initiative. You can reach her at kelly.lippke@briefly.co.za.
