The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny and the Fight for Civil Rights by Steve Sheinkin (review)

Sheinkin presents the compelling tale of African-American sailors who enlisted with the expectation of serving on vessels bound for the European or Asian theaters of operation and instead found themselves loading arms onto carriers at the California base of Port Chicago. All recognized the importance of the task, but the fact that only black seamen were assigned to the labor and nobody received training in handling the munitions (some of it “hot cargo” with attached detonators) bred further resentment against the policy of racial discrimination that was enforced throughout the military. An explosion, which was all but inevitable, killed 320 sailors on July 17, 1944 and left many of the survivors understandably reluctant to return to the loading docks. When several divisions were reassigned shortly after the explosion, fifty seamen refused the assignment and were subsequently brought up on charges of mutiny. Sheinkin handily sketches in the background of segregation at the time period and allows much of the episode to unfold through first-hand accounts and extensive excerpts from the trial itself, supplying commentary to assist readers in following the prosecution and defense strategies. The result is a gripping narrative that underscores the tragic fallout from misguided military policy, while involving readers in the courtroom debate and the exact meaning of “mutiny.” The fifty now-deceased defendants (all convicted, all released back into active duty after serving a fraction of the original sentence, some pardoned) remain in a posthumous legal limbo, and only a later generation can rally for the conviction to be overturned and restore reputations—sounds like a challenge some blossoming activists might want to take on in their near futures. Black and white photographs, citations, extensive resources arranged by documents type, and an index are included.