The Port Chicago 50
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On 17 July 1944 at about 10:20 p.m., a massive explosion occurred at the U.S. Navy's Port Chicago near San Francisco killing more than 350 Sailors. Following the blast, a group of 50 African-American Sailors refused to return to work until changes were made to assure their safety. They were charged with mutiny and court-martialed.
[edit] History
The Port Chicago Naval Magazine was built in 1941 and 1942, shortly after the Pearl Harbor attack at the beginning of World War II. Located just outside of Pittsburg, CA, Port Chicago was an ammunition storage facility where ships were equipped. All the enlisted men at Port Chicago were African-Americans. Their commanding officers were white.
Despite the clear questions about unsafe working conditions at the facility and the unequal treatment of African-American enlistees compared to their white commanding officers, the case went to court-martial. The 50 men were sentenced to dishonorable discharges and prison sentences of eight to fifteen years. Future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall sued the Navy on behalf of the Sailors. Although he was unable to get the convictions overturned, Marshall succeeded in winning clemency for the 50 Sailors, but not until after the war.
Freddie Meeks, one of the 50 Sailors, petitioned for a presidential pardon after a Congressional effort to have the convictions overturned was unsuccessful. In 1999, President Clinton issued a pardon for Meeks.
[edit] Facts
- More than 200 of those killed by the explosions were African-Americans. This number accounted for nearly 15% of all African-American casualties in WWII. An additional 400 men, mostly African-Americans, were injured by the explosions.
- The final Naval inquiry claimed it was impossible to determine the cause of the explosion.
- The site of the Port Chicago Naval Magazine is a national memorial, dedicated to the lives lost in the explosion and crediting the aftermath of the disaster as the first step toward "racial justice and equality" in the United States.
- The story of the Port Chicago 50 was the subject of the 1999 Emmy-nominated film Mutiny written by James S. Henerson and directed by Kevin Hooks.
