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During World War 2, African Americans were allowed to join the Navy, but they were segregate and not allowed to go to sea. Much of this was due to the fact that our country was still segregate and had not passed any Civil Rights Laws.

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Many of the African Americans were sent to Port Chicago in the San Francisco Bay.

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Although they were not properly trained, their job was to move missiles and ammunition on to Naval Ships that were headed to combat. This was hard for many of the soldiers as they wanted to go out to sea and fight for their country.

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Throughout it all, many African Americans stuck together and supported each other through all their hardships.

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"By July 1944, there were 1,431 black enlisted me at Port Chicago and 71 white officers. The base was guarded by 106 marines, all white." (Shenkin 53)

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On Monday July 17th at 10:18pm everything changed at Port Chicago. There was a large explosion that would decimate the entire Port and start a movement much larger.

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"The consensus of opinion of the witnesses," summarized the official report, "is that the colored enlisted personnel are neither temperamentally nor intellectually capable of handling high explosives.... It is an admitted fact, supported by the testimony of witnesses, that there was rough and careless handling of the explosives being loaded aboard ships at Port Chicago." (Sheinkin 71)

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Many of the men that were at Port Chicago on that day suffered from what is now considered PTSD, however at that time the military did not care if an African American had PTSD. Even though they were transferred to a new base, many men were afraid to continue to load ammunition in fear of another explosion. Because of this they refused. The military charged 50 of them with mutiny and was moving towards the death penalty.

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In order to know how it all ends, pick up and read the book Port Chicago 50 by Steve Sheinkin