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

Before there was Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, Rosa Parks, and Jackie Robinson, there was the Port Chicago 50 breaking down barriers that Blacks faced in the U.S. Navy. World War II was a different kind of war. The U.S. was not fighting for conquest or revenge. It was fighting for the right to live freely in the greater world. The need to protect freedom was this impetus for a lot of Americans to join the armed services. Many Blacks signed up because they not only believed it was their duty to fight, but it was also an opportunity to prove themselves in a country that often treated them as second class citizens. In Steve Sheinkin’s book The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights, the Newberry honor winning author, tells the story of 50 men who were put on trial for mutiny after refusing to return to work following a disaster at the shipyards that killed over 300 men. During WWII, the armed services were segregated and most of the opportunities for blacks were limited. Due to the Navy’s policy of segregation, most of the men killed at Port Chicago were the black sailors that were assigned to the dangerous task of loading ammunition onto ships. Afraid of returning to unsafe working conditions, some men in the remaining units refused to return to work. With threats of mutiny and hanging, many men decided to return, expect 50 men. Sheinkin does an excellent job of providing context and incorporating primary source into his account of the disaster and trial. It is an accessible and thought provoking retelling of a little known event that contributed to the civil rights movement and equality in the military. Recommended for readers interested in the civil rights movement and/or military history.