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 asurances 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.

Faced with the threat of execution, 208 Sailors returned to duty, but fifty men — now known as The Port Chicago 50 — stood firm and were charged with conspiring to commit mutiny.

The Fight for Justice

Marshall called for a formal government investigation into Port Chicago. His interviews with the Sailors provided the foundation for a widely circulated pamphlet that rallied thousands of signatures demanding their release and the end of segregation in the Navy.

In April of 1945, on behalf of the fifty Sailors, Marshall directly appealed the case to the Navy’s Judge Advocate in Washington, D.C. Although his appeal was officially rejected, a private letter from the Sailors’ corrections facility revealed that the Navy planned to reverse its decision to imprison the Port Chicago 50, while intentionally withholding “credit” from "civilian organizations" like NAACP for their advocacy efforts.

On January 9, 1946, the Sailors were discreetly released from prison. Just one month later, in February 1946, following intense public pressure initiated by the Port Chicago protest, subsequent protests, and a public appeal campaign, the Navy became the first branch of the military to end racial segregation.