The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights

Sheinkin traces the history of the Navy’s policy limiting black sailors to work as mess attendants, a policy that originated with George Washington during the American Revolutionary War. Though the revolutionary army originally enlisted African-American soldiers, slave owners feared that armed soldiers would result in slave rebellions and pressure Washington to stop accepting African-American soldiers. After two years of struggle and defeat against the British, Washington reversed the policy, and a contingent of African-American soldiers gave Washington the edge he needed over the British.

During the Civil War, the Union Army also avoided recruiting African-American soldiers, over fears of losing the support of slave-owning states still in the Union. However, running out of men, the Union was similarly forced to accept African-American recruits, though they decided to keep the regiments segregated by placing white generals in command of black soldiers. This policy of segregation continued during Theodore Roosevelt’s Spanish-American War and in World War I. Still, even though African-American soldiers proved themselves in both wars, the US military maintained its racist belief that African-Americans did not make good soldiers and refused to desegregate. 

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the US enters into World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt justifies entering the war to the American people by arguing that U.S. troops are fighting for the ideals of freedom and democracy. The US military, however, remains segregated, with African-Americans not allowed to enlist in the Marines or Army Air Corps. Civil rights groups argue that the US is hypocritical to fight for freedom abroad while African-Americans are refused an equal position in the military. To appease his support base of African-Americans, Roosevelt creates a “compromise,” announcing that the Navy would train African-American sailors—though those sailors would be confined to the Navy’s lowest ranks and could still only serve at sea as mess attendants. Though civil rights groups continue speaking out against the Navy’s policy, numerous African-American men begin enlisting in the Navy and Army, seeing an opportunity to prove that African-Americans are as capable as whites. One of these men is Joe Small, who had already earned a reputation as a natural leader in the Civilian Conservation Corps.

Joe Small and the other new African-American Navy recruits are sent to the US Naval Training Center in Great Lakes, Illinois. Many of the new recruits are only in their late teens, and the Center gives them their first taste of adult freedoms. However, to their dismay, the camp is entirely segregated. At meal times, both black and white recruits lineup separately, with black recruits forced to eat in a basement cafeteria separate from where white recruits eat. Likewise, military supplies of blood are kept racially segregated, even though no scientific difference in blood, as based on race, exists. Lieutenant Commander Daniel Armstrong is placed in charge of  black recruits, and he decorates the black camp with images of former black Naval heroes, including Dorie Miller. However, Armstrong refuses to allow black recruits to enroll in specialized training, as he does not believe they can succeed as mechanics or electricians. 

After a twelve-week boot camp, the African-American sailors are sent to Port Chicago Naval Magazine, a “dumpy looking” port located thirty miles  from San Francisco (22). Though the black sailors had hoped to be deployed in combat, they realize that their only task consists of loading crates of explosives onto ships. While all of the men loading ships at Port Chicago are black, their commanding officers  are exclusively white. The lead officer, Captain Nelson Goss, is unhappy to be in charge of any black sailors, as he believes “that black workers could only do about 60 percent as much work as whites” (23). Though the white officers are receive training on how to handle explosives, the African-American sailors are never given similar training. The officers even decline to give written safety instructions to the black sailors, as they do not believe the black sailors are literate enough to read. As a result, the black sailors are fearful to continue with the work, as they recognize that a single mistake could result in a fatal explosion.

Sheinkin describes the black sailors’ daily work schedule at Port Chicago, often using anecdotes from individual sailors’ lives in his descriptions. While Sheinkin quotes a variety of sailors, he particularly uses stories from Joe Small, who quickly emerges as the black sailors’ unofficial leader. Joe Small learned to be independent and courageous as a child, when his father had him work on the family farm. After Small’s father died, he took a job as a truck driver for a local furniture company, despite not having a driver’s license. Small arrives at Port Chicago when he is twenty-two, making him a few years older than most recruits. The age difference earns him a certain degree of respect from his younger peers.

Each day, Small takes it upon himself to wake his fellow sailors, who must be ready for work at 6:45 am. They are then inspected by “very hot-tempered” Lieutenant Ernest Delucchi, who puts Small in charge of leading the men’s march (29). The sailors are then driven in trucks to the pier, where they split into five teams of twenty to load bombs into one of the ship’s five hatches. On the pier, the men unload crates of bombs onto ramps that lead to the ship. They learn to place mattresses on the side of the ships, as the crates would frequently roll out of control and crash. Small fears these crashes could lead to an explosion, but Delucchi assures him there is nothing to worry about, as the bombs do not have detonators attached. Next, the bombs are carried by a crane into the hold and stacked in rows, with “hot cargo” (live explosives) placed at the top (33). Small quickly excels at this work and soon becomes the main winchman in charge of using the crane. Though many in Small’s Division feel he should be promoted to the position of “petty officer,” Delucchi refuses on the grounds that Small is not old enough (36). Despite this decision, both Delucchi and Small’s fellow sailors frequently treat him as a petty officer, with Small gaining extra responsibilities, but without a pay bonus. 

The sailors are scheduled in consecutive eight-hour shifts, so that one shift is constantly loading bombs “twenty-four hours a day” (37). They work seven days straight before being given a “day of liberty” (36). On these days, the African-American sailors frequently take the bus to a town called Pittsburg, which offers nightlife. However,  only one street in Pittsburg—Black Diamond Street—is welcoming to black people. Some black sailors travel to bigger cities of Oakland or San Francisco. In one instance, a black sailor, Robert Edwards, is invited by two white sailors for a drink at a bar. However, the bartender only serves the white sailors and informs them that black people are not welcome at his bar.