Angela McShan was a highly regarded Coast Guardsman in the United States Coast Guard.
In 1999 McShan was the first African-American to be appointed an instructor at the Chief Petty Officers' Academy.
In 2000 McShan was the Coast Guard's first African-American woman to be promoted to Master Chief Petty Officer.
McShan enlisted in the Coast Guard in July 1979.
For her first fourteen years in the Coast Guard she served as a storekeeper.
In her final six years McShan served as a yeoman, a civil rights counselor, and finally, an instructor.McShan's promotion to Master Chief Petty Officer came two months before she succumbed to cancer.