Richard Etheridge

How this work helped shape America

Born enslaved on Roanoke Island, North Carolina, in 1842, Richard Etheridge developed the maritime skills that later made him a leader in the United States Life-Saving Service. After serving with the 36th U.S. Colored Infantry during the Civil War and working as a fisherman, farmer and inlet pilot, Etheridge joined the Life-Saving Service in 1875. In 1880, he was appointed keeper of the Pea Island Life-Saving Station, becoming the first Black American to command a station in the service. Etheridge organized and trained an all-Black crew renowned for its discipline and lifesaving skill. During an October 1896 hurricane, he directed the rescue of all nine people aboard the wrecked schooner E.S. Newman when conventional rescue equipment could not be used. Etheridge's twenty years commanding Pea Island placed a formerly enslaved Black American in leadership of a federal maritime-rescue installation and helped establish an enduring Black presence in the service that became part of the modern United States Coast Guard.