Port Chicago Explosion and Mutiny
It was during World War II; On July 17, 1944, two ships that were being loaded with ammunition exploded at the docks in a small town on the San Francisco Bay about 35 miles northeast of San Francisco!! It was later ruled to be a result of unsafe conditions.
A massive explosion destroyed the Port Chicago, California, naval ammunition base on the Sacramento River near San Francisco Bay. It killed 320 naval personnel and civilians, including 202 Black stevedores--ammunition loaders; and several hundred injured. Others killed were nine white officers in charge of the loaders, 70 members of the mixed crews of the two ships, 15 Coast Guardsmen on vessels nearby, and several civilians. The injured were mostly Black seamen who were at that time (10:30 P.M.) in their barracks a mile from the docks.
Because of the navy's official policy of segregation, black enlistees at Port Chicago were restricted to ammunition loading, the most dangerous and physically demanding work at the base. None of the surviving ammunition loaders were given leave after the explosion.
LABOR STOPPAGE: Three weeks later, "on August 9, the survivors, who had been scattered in various camps, were assembled at Vallejo, a few miles from Port Chicago, with the view of resuming the loading. However, the men expressed strong reluctance. Various reasons were given, but the principal reason was fear of another disaster." (And also over the next several weeks). After three days of persuasion and urging, the commandant of the Naval district was called in, but his efforts, too, were largely unavailing. Of the 400 men, "several hundred" or about 328 Black stevedores (dockworkers) were ordered to return to their jobs at the rebuilt pier. 258 were unable to overcome their fears, and they refused to return to work after the ammunition explosion at the docks near San Francisco, California. They refused to unload any more ammunition.
258 of them were arrested and put in virtual confinement--held under guard on a prison barge at the docks. Several days were consumed in persuading and interviewing the men by the post chaplain and others with the result that all but 44 of the 258 expressed willingness to resume the loading. These 44, plus 6 others who balked after a few days of work, were formally charged with mutiny. On September 14, these "mutinieers"--fifty of these Navy men were brought to trial before a naval court-martialed. The trial lasted six weeks, ending on October 24 with a verdict of guilty: convicted of mutiny. Three weeks later there were given sentences with terms from 5 to 15 years' imprisonment and hard labor, and dishonorable discharges.
Soon after the mutiny trial, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund took up the case, waged a publicity campaign on behalf of the convicted men, and directed their appeal before the Judge Advocate General of the Navy in 1945. At the appeal, NAACP Legal Defense Fund director Thurgood Marshall introduced evidence that the black enlistees at Port Chicago were restricted to the most dangerous work, given no special training in ammunition loading, subjected to forced competition by officers, and systematically barred from receiving promotion. Despite Marshall's efforts, the convictions were upheld.
Thurgood Marshall appeals the case and wins an acquittal for them in January, 1946. The fifty Port Chicago mutineers were released from prison, but were held on Navy ships for several months as a "probationary period" before receiving dishonorable discharges from the service. The status of the discharges was later changed to honorable, but the convictions were never overturned.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Aptheker, Herbert, editor. A Documentary History of the Negro in the United States, Vol. 4, 1974, 1992.
Harley, Sharon, Ph.D. The Timetables of African-American History: A Chronology of the Most Important People and Events in African-American History, 1995.
Inglewood Daily News, July 18-20, 1944.
Murray, Florence, editor. Negro Handbook, 1946-47, pp. 347-56.
Salzman, Jack, et al, editor. Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History, Vol. 4, 1996.
Williams, Michael W., editor. The African American Encyclopedia, Vol. 5, 1993.
MUTINY AT FREEMAN FIELD
A disturbance which originated at Freeman Field, near Seymour, Ind., in April 5, 1944, the day the 99th Pursuit Fighter Squadron and the rest of the 332nd Fighter Group arrived, had wide ramifications and repercussions. These were the Tuskegee Airmen of the U.S. Army Air Corps!!
Some background information and history of these airmen is needed.
Sources:
Aptheker, Herbert, editor. A Documentary History of the Negro in the United States, Vol. 4, 1974, 1992, pp. 528-29.
Haliburton, Warren. The Fighting Red Tails: America's First Black Airmen, 1978.
McKissack, Patricia and Fredrick. Red-Tail Angels: The Story of the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II, 1995.
"Teacher Remembers WW II Experiences." Los Angeles Sentinel, Vol. LXIV, No. 6, May 21-May 28, 1998, p. A-14 (Black History).
Murray, Florence, editor. Negro Handbook, 1946-47, pp. 347-56.
** See also: Battle, LeRoy. Easier Said. 1998. (Autobiography)
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Some Mutinies, Riots, and Other Disturbances (Large Groups of Black Servicemen and Servicewomen
THE CAMP VAN DORN RIOT, Late Fall, 1943
More than 1,200 black soldiers from the 364th Infantry Division were murdered in cold blood by the U.S. Army at camp Van Dorn in the southwestern Mississippi.
THE HAWAIIAN MUTINY, July 31, 1944
MUTINY AT MABRY FIELD, March 23, 1944
THE BROOKLEY FIELD MUTINY, May 24, 1944
THE FORT DEVENS CASE, March 10, 1944
THE CAMP CLAIBORNE RIOT, August 16, 1944
THE FORT LAWTON ANTI-ITALIAN RIOT, August 14, 1944
THE GUAM DISORDERS, Summer-Christmas nite, 1944
SEABEES' HUNGER STRIKE, March 3 and 4, 1945
SEABEES DISCHARGE CASE, April 5, 1945
Sources:
Aptheker, Herbert, editor. A Documentary History of the Negro in the United States, Vol. 4, 1974, 1992, pp. 525, 529-37.
Muhammad, Simeon Booker. "New Book Claims Army Murdered More than 1,000 Black Soldiers During WWII." Los Angeles Sentinel, Vol. LXIV, No. 33, Mavember 12-November 18, 1998, p. A-1.
Murray, Florence, editor. Negro Handbook, 1946-47, pp. 347-56.
** See also: Battle, LeRoy. Easier Said. 1998. (Autobiography)
** See also: Case, Carroll. The Slaughter--An American Tragedy. 1998.
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Violence Against Individual or Small Groups of Black Soldiers
THE BOHANNON CASE, July 3, 1943
TUSKEGEE CASE, December 1942 or January 1943
THE DURHAM, N.C., MURDER, July 8, 1944
W.A.C.S' BEATING CASE, July 9, 1945
Sources:
Aptheker, Herbert, editor. A Documentary History of the Negro in the United States, Vol. 4, 1974, 1992, pp. 538-40.
McKissack, Patricia and Fredrick. Red-Tail Angels: The Story of the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II, 1995.
Murray, Florence, editor. Negro Handbook, 1946-47, pp. 347-56.
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RACE RIOTS IN CITIES: racial battles were fought in many places to which black families were moving in those days of renewed migration: places like these below. During the conflicts in these cities scores of persons were killed, hundreds more (over 1,200) were wounded, and millions of dollars worth of property was destroyed. In most of these instances, youth gangs were at the forefront of the fighting. (see also Vampires, Dragons, and Egyptian Kings, by Eric Schneider).
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Zoot Suit Riots, were the first!
MOBILE, ALABAMA
DETROIT, MICHIGAN, June 20, 1943
It started on Belle Isle. It lasted over 30 hours. When it was over 25 Blacks and 9 whites were dead. It caused over $2 million damage.
BEAUMONT, TEXAS,
HARLEM, NEW YORK CITY, Aug. 1, 1943
6 died, and over 500 were injured, more than 100 were jailed.
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY
MARIANNA, FLORIDA
Sources:
Brown, Earl. The Detroit Race Riot of 1943, in Aptheker, pp. 444, 450-52.
Harding, Vincent. The Other American Revolution, 1980, p. 134.
Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, "U.S. Riot Commission Report," 1968, p. 224
Schneider, Eric. Vampires, Dragons, and Egyptian Kings, chapter 2.
Washburn, p. 179, from Walter Yust, ed. 1944 Britannica Book of the Year, pp. 580-81.
REVISED: January 28, 2003, by Kenneth Kwame Welsh
