On July 17, 1944 at a navy magazine near Port Chicago, California, men were busy loading munitions onto the SS E.A. Bryant. Suddenly there was an explosion, it was so forceful that it was felt as far away as Nevada. In the explosion 320 enlisted men were killed, many of them African Americans. People do not know exactly what caused the blast, however we do know that the African Americans who were loading the ships were not trained to load munitions at all. The San Francisco Waterfront Unions said “that an explosion was inevitable if they persisted in using untrained seamen in the loading of ammunition.” and they were right. The Port Chicago explosion is considered to be the worst home front disaster of World War II.
Those who were not in the effective blast range that survived the explosion and were still able to work, were forced to work only weeks later at a different munitions loading depot. Many of the men were not aware that the explosives were armed they believed that the rounds weren’t armed until they reached the Pacific. White officers would have the African American soldiers race to see who could load the the cargo the fastest. After the port Chicago disaster many soldiers who loaded munitions questioned the safety of their work place. After this many soldiers who were stationed at munitions loading depots refused to work. One of the depots had 258 soldiers who refused to work, but after many threats only fifty remained.
Joseph Small, known as Joe, was one of the 258 enlisted soldiers who refused to work at the port after the explosion. Many of the other African American workers looked up to him. When they did not want to go to their officers to ask about something they asked Joe and he went to the officers. One of the officers wanted to give him a higher rank, the highest rank an African American was allowed to have in the Navy. Joe Small was considered to be the leader of the group of men who refused to work.
The 50 men who are now known as the Port Chicago 50 were put on trial for mutiny. Mutiny is when a group of soldiers plan or attempt to overthrow someone of a superior rank. For the trial Lieutenant Gerald E. Veltmann was picked to be the defense, he interviewed members of the Port Chicago 50 before the trial. Not all of the men who refused to work had loaded munitions before. A different man had said no because his wrist hadn’t healed and was still injured. The Port Chicago 50 were found guilty of mutiny and were sentenced to eight to fifteen years of labor. In January 1946 all of the men were released from prison. The other 208 of the soldiers were court-martialed for their participation at the beginning of the strike.
The Port Chicago 50 fought for African American soldiers rights in the workplace, because of how some black soldiers were commanded to accomplish tasks far greater in danger than their white counterparts. Before the explosion and mutiny African Americans just dealt with their surroundings. After the 50 rebelled against the U. S Navy they slowly started to desegregated blacks and whites in the military. Many still discriminated against the African Americans. But now they had the same working conditions as whites which was much safer.