Theodore Britton

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Born in North Augusta, south Carolina, in 1925, Theodore Roosevelt Britton, Jr. moved to New York City when he was ten years old. He had almost completed high school when he was drafted into the U.S. military during World War II. He became one of the first African Americans selected to be a part of the U.S. Marine Corps. 

Britton and the other Black Marines trained at a segregated facility in Montford Point, North Carolina, near Camp Lejeune. Their cohort became known as the "Montford Point Marines."

During the war, Britton served in the Pacific Theater, maintaing the muster roll for his unit. After his discharge in 1946, Britton returned to New York City where he studied banking and finance at New York University, taking advantage of the provisions of the G.I. Bill. He rejoined the Marines in 1950 and completed a tour of duty during the Korean War, completing his undergraduate degree in 1952.

During the 1950s and 1960s, Britton worked for the Black-owned Carver Federal Saving and Loan Association and the National Baptist Convention. In 1971, he began his career in government service as the Deputy Assistant Secretery for Research and Technology at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Then, on November 17, 1974, President Gerald Ford nominated Britton to serve as Ambassador to Barbados and Grenada, and he served from 1975 to 1977. 

His public service career continued in the 1980s and included travel to more than 150 different countries as an educational lecturer. Britton retired from the U.S. Foreign Service in 1989, eventually settling in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2012, he and his fellow Montford Point Marines were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for their pathbreaking military service. In 2014, he recorded an oral history interview with the Museum of History and Holocaust Education, and his story is preserved at the Kennesaw State University Archives.