During World War II, the , Port Chicago Naval Magazine , was a bustling gateway where thousands of , American American , sailors — segregated from their white counterparts — toiled as” longshoremen”, loading cluster bombs, armaments, mines and other munitions onto , Navy , ships bound for the Pacific drama.
But tragedy struck soon after , 10 p. m.  , on , July 17, 1944, when lax military safety protocols sparked a massive explosion that essentially vaporized near cargo ships and facilities on the base along the shores of , Suisun Bay , — immediately killing 320 sailors and civilians, who were mostly young , African American , men in their late teens to early twenties, and injuring almost 400 others. Only a few systems were actually recovered.
The fire propelled a large fire into the evening clouds, sent a shock flood of flying shrapnel that flattened , Port Chicago , and measured 3.4 on the Richter scale in nearby , Berkeley.
In honor of the 80th anniversary Wednesday, a four-day” Port Chicago Weekend” will meld education and entertainment , July 18-21 , to honor the catastrophe — the deadliest military disaster on mainland American soil during World War II.
Scores of events are planned in , Concord,  , Pittsburg, Vallejo and , Oakland, where attendees can enjoy live music, watch a theatrical performance of the” Port Chicago 50″ play, and listen to firsthand accounts from , relatives of the service members who perished eight decades ago.
While the , National Park Service , holds a commemoration ceremony every year at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial in , Concord,  , Yulie Padmore, director of the , Port Chicago Alliance, said she helped spearhead this year’s events with community organizers, historians and performers to increase engagement and broaden the appeal of this important , Bay Area , history.
After all, the Bay Area’s contribution to civil rights ‘ advancement is something to celebrate, and Padmore, who was first exposed to this history eight years ago through the efforts of the East Bay Regional Park District, hopes that these events will be entertaining as well as educational. The , Port Chicago , explosion and its aftermath catalyzed reforms that have since influenced labor laws and practices, ensuring better protections for workers, and fostering a culture of safety and fairness that continues to shape our society today.
While the exact cause of the explosion was never determined, historical records pointed blame at , Navy , leaders for circumventing proper protocol while training the majority of , African American , sailors to load munitions at , Port Chicago.
In the aftermath, 50 Black men refused to continue loading munitions. They were subsequently court-martialed at , Yerba Buena Island , in a mass trial and convicted of mutiny, sentenced to punishments that ranged from confinement to years of hard labor.
By 1946, most of the convicted sailors were released and granted clemency, and the , Navy , became the first of the , U. S.  , armed forces to desegregate. All branches of the , U. S.  , armed forces followed suit by 1948.
However, the , Port Chicago , 50 were never fully exonerated for disobeying wartime orders. Several efforts by federal legislators since 1990 — including East Bay , U. S.  , Representatives , Mark DeSaulnier,  , John Garamendi , and , Barbara Lee , — to reverse course have been unsuccessful.
Thurgood Marshall, a then-NAACP , lawyer and future Supreme Court Justice, swiftly organized national petitions and protests. In , October 1944, he , said that the , Navy , should be tried, instead, for its “whole vicious policy toward Negroes. Negroes in the , Navy , do n’t mind loading ammunition. They simply want to know why they are the only ones carrying the load.
Starting in 2020, continued advocacy from several community organizations — such as the East Bay Black Employee Collective,  , Citizens for Historical Equity,  , Friends of Port Chicago National Memorial, East County NAACP,  , United Veterans Council,  , Contra Costa County Bar Association, and the , Port Chicago Taskforce , — helped facilitate the , naming of the 2, 500-acre , Thurgood Marshall Regional Park , – Home of the , Port Chicago , 50. Additionally, more than a dozen , Bay Area , cities and government agencies have passed resolutions calling for exoneration.
While survivors of the blast such as , Ray Ross, TJ Hart,  , Morris Soublet,  , Freddie Meeks,  , Sammy Boykin , and , Percy Robinson , have since passed, Padmore said this recent advocacy has already helped , Port Chicago Alliance , connect with additional relatives of the former service members.
She stated that organizers hope to use the 80th anniversary to highlight the tragedy’s legacy and the Bay Area’s involvement in the national campaign for racial equality.
” The Port Chicago sailors ‘ non-violent civil disobedience — an act which would later become a hallmark of the civil rights movements of the 1950s and ‘ 60s — directly resulted in the desegregation of our Armed Forces”, Padmore said, noting that the sailors ‘ protest occurred a full decade before , Rosa Parks, the Greensboro sit-in and Brown v.  , Board of Education. It’s difficult to overstate how significant it is to the advancement of civil rights in our country, and I’m so happy to know that this incident occurred right here in the Bay Area.
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