Hughie Lee-Smith was a well-known African American artist of the late 20^th Century.  During World War II he joined the Navy and finished several paintings for and of the Great Lakes Naval Training Center.  As stated by the artist, “… my first major assignment and responsibility in the Navy as an officer was to establish, develop and conduct the Navy’s first school for illiterates. The picture depicts Black recruits to the Navy from the rural areas of the south with the typical one-room school house where for decades educational opportunities had been extremely limited and most often non-existent, coming to the Navy where ample facilities were provided to reclaim otherwise rejects to the Naval Service”.