How the Courage of 50 Black Men Helped End Segregation in the Military

America suffered its most devastating World War II loss on its own soil at Port Chicago, California located in San Francisco’s East Bay area 75 years ago today when a munitions explosion rocked the area, leaving 320 men dead and more than 200 of them were Black men. The tragedy set the stage for what became known as the Port Chicago Mutiny  which historians say contributed to the end of segregation in the Armed Forces.

Earlier this week the National Park Service held a special service marking the 75^th anniversary of the explosion. Family and friends of the men who perished gathered at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine Memorial to remember their loved ones.

The explosion occurred on July 17, 1944 as munitions denotated while being loaded onto a cargo vessel headed for the Pacific Theater Operations. The blast shook the area and blew out windows. Because Black sailors were usually assigned the job of munitions loading, they were impacted the most dramatically. A month later when the Navy brought in replacement sailors, 258 of them refused to do the job unless new safety procedures were implemented. The men were willing to work but not in the dangerous job of munitions loading.

In the aftermath of the explosion, Sailor Percy Robinson reportedly told researcher Robert L. Allen that the men were scared, adding “If somebody dropped a box or slammed a door, people [began] jumping around like crazy.”

According to BlackPast.org, 208 of the men who decided not to load munitions were punished with a court-martial, loss of pay for three months, and bad conduct discharges. Fifty of the men were charged with mutiny which was punishable by death. They became known as the Port Chicago 50. They were sentenced to eight to 15 years of hard labor but were granted clemency when the war ended.

The NAACP investigated the incident and reported that the men were dissatisfied with their treatment in the Navy. The Navy began a review of its policy regarding the separation among its ranks. In 1948 President Harry Truman signed Executive Order 9981 abolishing segregation in the Armed Forces.

On the Port Chicago Memorial’s Facebook page, John Phillip Fernandez wrote: “My parents and their families lived in nearby West Pittsburg…and, no one EVER said a bad word about those sailors who were overworked and undertrained to handle all those munitions, and then refused to continue.”