Eighty years after the Port Chicago Disaster, considered the single worst home-front disaster in World War II, the Secretary of the Navy announced the exoneration of all the surviving Black sailors who in 1944 were charged and convicted of mutiny for refusing to return to work in dangerous conditions.
I often tell people that writing history on deadline is a whirlwind. Oftentimes, you go from zero to 90 mph on a subject that nobody taught you about in history classes.
Last Friday, I had never heard of the Port Chicago Disaster, although it is considered by Naval historians one of the biggest state-side catastrophes of World War II.
My first thought: Mrs. Jones never taught us about this in AP history. In fact, Mrs. Jones never taught us anything about World War II because history classes always began the semester with the American Revolution and by the end of the year, the class was just learning about the Civil War. They taught nothing about the Colored Troops and how Black people freed themselves.
Anyway, I started researching Port Chicago, reading books on deadline and reading dozens of Navy and Congressional reports.
I went down a rabbit-hole of research when I found out Thurgood Marshall had appealed the case of the 258 Black sailors who had been court martialed and convicted of mutiny and disobeying orders for refusing to continue loading ammunition only days after two ships they had been loading had been obliterated in two explosions--of unknown cause. Whew, I thought. Thurgood Marshall was baaaad. I'm talking amazing.
Back to work. I interviewed a Navy historian. Then I interviewed the Secretary of the Navy. I wrote my first draft, and second draft. And you know how it goes working until midnight again. The next morning, I fact checked--and double fact checked--all the dates and figures.
Finally, the story was published.
I'm going to go back to eating my mangoes.
Eighty years after explosions ripped through the Port Chicago naval facility in California, killing 320 sailors, Coast Guard personnel and civilians, the secretary of the Navy announced Wednesday the full exoneration of African American sailors who were charged in 1944 with mutiny and refusing orders to return to work in dangerous conditions loading ammunition.
