US Navy Midshipman 1st Class Sydney Barber, the first Black woman to lead the US Naval Academy as a brigade commander, described the country’s reckoning with racial tensions as an eye-opening experience and believed there was still “a lot of room for progress.”
Barber, an Illinois native and a senior at the academy, recently became the first Black woman to lead and represent the student body during its 175-year history. The mechanical engineering major is expected to graduate this year and join the Marine Corps as a commissioned officer.\