Bill Pinkney, the first African American to sail the world solo, died unexpectedly Thursday in Atlanta while filming an upcoming National Geographic documentary about the Atlantic slave trade. He was 87.
In a video posted to Facebook, Ina Pinkney — his ex-wife, with whom he remained close — said he had fallen down some stairs and later succumbed to his injuries, with wife Migdalia Pinkney at his side.
Ina Pinkney said Mr. Pinkney had left an important legacy as a pioneer in sailing, specifically for Black sailors in what is, in the United States, a predominately white sport.
“Bill has a very important place in the history of Chicago,” she said in the video, posted Thursday. “Bill was a lot of firsts, and Bill was the best at being the first.”
His life revolved around the water from early on: he was an X-ray technician in the Navy before learning to sail, and a frequent visitor to Chicago’s 31st Street Beach while growing up on the South Side. Eventually, he ended up racing sailboats at Belmont Harbor in the 1970s.
In 1992, Mr. Pinkney became the first Black sailor to go around the world solo, taking his 47-foot yacht “The Commitment” on a 27,000 mile, 22-month trip.
During that voyage, Mr. Pinkney, then 55, taught thousands of schoolchildren lessons in science, math and geography from his boat via satellite. A video of his journey went on to win a Peabody Award.
The trip around the globe was particularly dangerous because of the route Mr. Pinkney chose, according to Jerry Thomas, a friend and the vice chairman and treasurer of the Chicago Maritime Museum. That route took him south of the capes of South America and Africa, where the winds can be dangerous, and is one few attempt solo.
“When you take that route, you’re putting your life at risk,” Thomas told the Sun-Times Friday afternoon.
Thomas said Mr. Pinkney took that route because just sailing around the world was already “out of the bounds of what some guy from the South Side should do,” and Mr. Pinkney’s competitive spirit drove him to challenge himself.
After that historic journey, Mr. Pinkney led voyages on the Middle Passages’ trade routes, again teaching schoolchildren, though those lessons focused mostly on the history of the Atlantic slave trade.
In 2000, Mr. Pinkney became the first captain of a replica of the Amistad, a schooner commandeered in 1839 by its captive passengers, who were residents of Sierra Leone abducted to be sold into slavery. The new crew eventually made it to the U.S., where they were declared free by the courts and returned home.
It was then that he met his current wife. They fell in love — partly due to his salsa dancing skills — shortly after he refused her request for a photo at the Amistad’s launch.
“He loved dancing, he loved expressing himself,” Migdalia Pinkney said. “When we met, we danced as if we’d been dancing together our whole lives.”
Years later, Mr. Pinkney became the first Black sailor inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame — one of two with the honor, alongside Absalom Boston, a 19th-century whaler — and was given the Mystic Seaport Museum’s highest honor, the “America and the Sea” award, following his 14 years there as a board member.
Despite the laundry list of accolades, which prompted him to joke that people thought he was “greater than milk and cookies,” Migdalia Pinkney said he was driven by teaching and inspiring youth.
“No matter what he was doing, he was educating,” Migdalia Pinkney told the Sun-Times. “Bill’s main message was, all dreams come true if you make a commitment to make things possible, no matter what people tell you.”
In recent years, Mr. Pinkney had continued to speak with schoolchildren taking educational trips to the Chicago Maritime Museum or the Jackson Park Yacht Club, where he would swim as a child.
The Maritime Museum has been preparing an exhibit on Mr. Pinkney’s trip around the world. Thomas said Mr. Pinkney had helped with that exhibit, which could debut near year’s end and will include equipment used on the journey.
Thomas described Mr. Pinkney as “warm,” “personable,” and most important, “an inspiration,” which he hopes comes across in the exhibit.
“We can put an exhibit together but we’ll miss the personal connection he had with kids,” Thomas said. “Bill provided an example for kids to get rid of their boundaries.”
Mr. Pinkney didn’t want his legacy to overshadow anyone else’s, his wife said. If anything, he hoped his fame would draw attention to others doing what he was doing.
“It mattered to him that people didn’t just see him, but saw all the other Black folks in Chicago who make a difference,” Migdalia Pinkney said. “Bill was just an ordinary man doing extraordinary things.”
Contributing: Neil Steinberg
