Port Chicago: The Fight for Equality That Changed America

Summary: On August 9, 1944, after a catastrophic explosion at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine in California, 258 Black American servicemen refused to resume work under hazardous and racially segregated conditions. Their protest led to the largest mass mutiny trial in U.S. naval history.

Future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall—then a young attorney with the NAACP—investigated the case, condemned the trial as unjust, and helped expose the systemic discrimination faced by Black American servicemen. The protest of the Port Chicago Sailors, coupled with Marshall’s principled advocacy, forced a reckoning within the U.S. Navy, ultimately compelling it to dismantle its segregationist policies and become the first government institution to formally desegregate.

World War II

During World War II, over a million Black Americans served in the military, which at that time was racially segregated. In the Navy, Black Americans were often assigned the most grueling, dangerous, and labor-intensive jobs with limited opportunities for advancement or recognition.

At Port Chicago Naval Magazine, near Concord, California, 30 miles northeast of San Francisco, Black Sailors were exclusively assigned the hazardous task of loading bombs and ammunition onto cargo ships. They received no formal training, yet naval commanders prioritized speed over safety, even betting on which division could load the fastest. Sailors repeatedly raised concerns about safety, but their warnings, along with those from the Coast Guard and the local Port Director, were dismissed.

The Port Chicago Disaster

On July 17, 1944, as two naval cargo ships were being loaded, a catastrophic explosion obliterated both vessels. The explosions instantly killed everyone within 1000 feet, including 320 servicemen, merchant mariners, and civilian contractors. All those loading munitions at the time of the explosion were Black Americans, accounting for almost two thirds of the dead and amounting to 15% of all Black American military deaths during World War II.

The Navy commended nearly 200 Black Sailors for their courage during rescue efforts, recognizing their actions as being “in accordance with our Service’s highest traditions.”

The Port Chicago Protest

Following the explosion, White officers were granted time off, while the surviving Black Sailors were ordered to clean up the naval base, including the grim task of recovering the remains of their fallen shipmates.

Just three weeks after the explosion, and before an official investigation could determine its cause, hundreds of Black Sailors were ordered back to handling explosives with no additional safety measures or training, and no assurances that leadership would begin enforcing safety regulations.

In an act of protest, 258 Sailors spontaneously objected. They were subsequently imprisoned on a barge, where they were held for three days.

Facing the threat of execution, 208 Sailors returned to duty, while fifty men held their ground, insisting that safety conditions be improved or that they be reassigned to other duties. They were formally charged with mutiny, resulting in the largest mutiny trial in United States history.

“This is not 50 men on trial for mutiny, this is the Navy on trial for its whole vicious policy toward Negroes."

- Thurgood Marshall

Future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall – who was then a young civil rights attorney for the NAACP – interviewed the Sailors, attended the trial, and denounced the proceedings as unjust, publicly questioning why Black Sailors were being singled out for the most perilous and back-breaking assignments.

His bold public advocacy was instrumental in garnering widespread support for the accused Sailors, who became known as the Port Chicago 50. Despite the mounting public outcry and Marshall's powerful legal and moral arguments, the young men were all sentenced to 15 years in prison and a dishonorable discharge, a severe ruling that further fueled the controversy.

The Fight for Justice

Following the convictions, Marshall called for a formal government investigation into Port Chicago, and the NAACP drew on his interviews with the Sailors to craft a widely circulated Mutiny pamphlet. The publication helped to galvanize over 100 thousand signatures demanding the men's release and an end to segregation in the Navy.

On April 3, 1945, Marshall formally appealed to the Navy’s Judge Advocate General, calling for the release of the Port Chicago 50. That same week, the NAACP deliverd its pamphlet directly to the White House. Within days, after reading the pamphlet, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt wrote to the Secretary of the Navy, voicing her support for Marshall’s appeal.

"I hope in the case of these boys, special care will be taken."

— Eleanor Roosevelt
Letter to Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal
April 8, 1945

Though the Navy officially denied Marshall's appeal in June 1945, it quietly moved to act on his recommendations. Just four months later, a confidential memo recommended that the Port Chicago Sailors be released from prison — but discreetly and without public acknowledgment. The memo warned that organizations like the NAACP had already made the Sailors "look like martyrs," and the Navy was determined to avoid any appearance that their freedom resulted from outside pressure.

On January 9, 1946, the Sailors were quietly released from prison and returned to active duty. Just one month later, in February 1946, following intense public pressure initiated by the Port Chicago protest, subsequent military protests, and Marshall's public appeal campaign, the Navy became the first federal institution to officially prohibit racial segregation.

Legacy of Heroism

For decades, the Port Chicago 50 carried the burden of a conviction rooted not in justice, but in racial discrimination — condemned by a system that punished them for demanding dignity and basic rights from the Navy. That long-standing injustice was reignited in 1989 with the release of Dr. Robert L. Allen’s groundbreaking book The Port Chicago Mutiny, sparking a renewed movement for truth, accountability, and lasting recognition. In the decades that followed, historians, lawmakers, attorneys, civil rights organizations, and descendants united to tell the truth and demand accountability, building a movement that refused to let the Sailors’ courage and sacrifice be forgotten.

In 2024, on the 80th anniversary of the Port Chicago disaster, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris joined the Navy in taking a historic step to right this wrong. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro officially exonerated the Port Chicago Sailors, clearing their records of all wrongdoing and fulfilling the justice that Marshall had fought for decades earlier. Though none of the Sailors lived to see this day, the nation at last honored their courage and affirmed their place in civil rights history. ⚑

“The Port Chicago 50, and the hundreds who stood with them, may not be with us today, but their story lives on, a testament to the enduring power of courage and the unwavering pursuit of justice."

- 78th United States Secretary of the Navy, Carlos Del Toro

History of Port Chicago

Port Chicago

The Fight for Equality That Changed America