Cryptologic Pioneers: The African American Experience

African Americans in Cryptologic History

View the African American Honorees

The experience of African Americans at NSA and its predecessor organization mirrors the African American experience in the United States and the Federal Government in the latter half of the twentieth century.

The first African American hired by the Army Security Agency, and who later made the transition to the Armed Forces Security Agency, worked first in a segregated office. Senior supervisors were white and many of the duties were menial ones not wanted by whites.

In the 1950s, African Americans began to move into the mainstream workforce. The segregated office was abolished and more African Americans received supervisory positions.

Many African Americans advanced to NSA's senior ranks. Many of those who began their careers in the segregated work environment finished at the top of their profession.

For many years, it was believed that African Americans had first been hired to work in cryptology only after World War II. Recent research has revealed, however, that the first large-scale hiring program for African Americans began in 1944. By the end of the war, a segregated office of 30 African Americans was engaged in researching messages encrypted in unknown systems, analyzing them, and producing translations.

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Carroll Robinson

During a period when The New York Times was accusing the Army of trying "to preserve a pattern of bigotry which caricatures the democratic cause in every corner of the world," the Agency hired its first black engineer, Carroll Robinson, in 1948. He was a graduate of Howard University with an electrical engineering degree. Hired by the Research and Development (R&D) organization, he was assigned to the team charged with building the Agency's first in-house developed digital computer, ABNER 1. R&D was one of the few areas where African-Americans worked alongside their white coworkers conducting meaningful assignments. Carroll Robinson became the Agency's first African-American senior executive, retiring from federal service as an office chief.

Biography african american honoree historical figure Carroll Robinson