In Touch With The Port Chicago 50
By Betty Miller Buttram
FWIS Contributing Writer
In the summer of July 1944, Port Chicago was a naval ammunition depot based in San Franciso east bay area. Its primary mission was to load ammunition onto ships bound for the Pacific Theater. Many of the sailors were African Americans. They had been trained for combat duty but were instead assigned to this grueling task of loading military weapons such as guns, 600-pound bombs, rockets, and highly explosive incendiary munitions that were used as a chemical reaction to produce heat and fire. The result of which caused burns, respiratory injuries and would set objects on fire. The white officers and the African American sailors had not been adequately trained for this dangerous work. The Longshore Union warned the Navy that a disaster was going to happen.
On July 17, 1944, a massive explosion jolted the San Franciso East Bay area, shattering windows and lighting up the sky. There were two ships that were involved that caused the blast. The ship named SS E.A. Bryan, was fully loaded with munitions, and the other ship, SS Quinault, was in the process of being loaded when the powerful explosion obliterated the ships, sent fiery debris high into the night sky, and created a massive crater where the pier once stood. The debris was scattered over a mile away and the base left in ruins. The explosion killed 320 men instantly, including 202 African American sailors and injured nearly 400 others.
This had been a traumatic disaster for all the sailors, Black and white. They were impacted emotionally and physically by the blast. However, in the days following the explosion, the white officers were given hardship leaves, and the African American survivors were ordered to clean up the destroyed base including the remains of their dead colleagues. Then they were ordered to resume the loading of ammunitions at the Mare Island Ammunition Depot across the Sacramento River in Vallejo, California under the same hazardous conditions. The African American sailors were reluctant to return to these unsafe conditions because the Navy did not address the safety issues that led to the explosion. They were threatened with harsh disciplinary action and many relented; but fifty African American sailors refused to return to an unsafe workplace and cited the lack of proper safety measures and training.
Fifty African American sailors, who became known as the Port Chicago 50 and their refusal was a bold act of defiance against the unjust conditions they had been subjected to. The Navy responded by charging them with mutiny which is a willful refusal to obey constituted authority especially if it is a revolt against a superior officer. This was not a revolt or mutiny; this was insubordination which could have resulted in the sailors being dishonorably discharged from the Navy. This is my civilian opinion of the Federal government with my years of service. If a civilian refuses a direct order to perform a duty that is not harmful to their well-being, that person is fired; pack up your stuff and hit the road. That is one of the first topics discussed at employee orientation; insubordination means you will be fired immediately. But the military will court-martial their sailors/soldiers, and this was a mutiny according to their military manuals. The Port Chicago 50 wanted assurance about the safety issues but were court martialed instead. The subsequent trial was fully charged with racial bias, and despite the sailors legitimated concerns, all 50 men were convicted and sentenced to 15-year prison sentences. Only after the war were the men released from prison and reassigned to duty, many at sea.
The trial of the Port Chicago 50 was 80 years ago, and its legacy continues. It has taken all these years to exonerate the Port Chicago 50 and the 208 men who initially refused to work and were subsequently court-martialed. On July 17, 2024, The Secretary of the Navy signed a document which exonerated the names of the men who stood against injustice and discrimination.