I Had To Be The Best I Could Be

Latty says her interest in the project stems from her late father, Albert, a Navy steward in World War II. He filled her childhood in New York City’s Harlem with tales of war. They weren’t all easy to hear. “He would tell me about the racism and discrimination,” says Latty. “But every story always ended with him saying how proud he was to serve his country.” That sentiment is echoed in the thoughts of older vets, who often fought for a country that wasn’t fighting for them. “I didn’t have time to let the problems, the racism, defeat me,” reads the testimonial of Samuel Gravely Jr., who started in a segregated Navy cleaning sailors’ barracks during WWII. “All I knew was that I had to be the best I could be.” Gravely became the Navy’s first black admiral in 1971.

Tarver says he was trying to capture the personalities behind the uniforms. He says of the exhibit: “I wasn’t prepared for how moved people were by it. People will just stand there and cry.”