The Port Chicago Mutiny

One of the most egregious examples of racial discrimination and persecution in the U.S. military was the so-called mutiny at Port Chicago, Calif., in 1944. On July 17 at the naval ammunition depot there, an explosion rocked the area, killing 320 and injuring 390; most of the dead and injured were black Navy men who, in the segregated armed forces of the time, worked as stevedores loading explosives abroad ships, with no hope of transfer or ad vancement. After the blast, 258 enlisted men voiced either reluctance or refusal to return to their duties; 208 were court-martialed and 50 were found guilty of mutiny and given prison sentences of up to 15 years. Resurrecting the scandal, Allen ( Black Awakening in Capitalist America ) writes a gripping expose of a shocking injustice. Photos not seen by PW. (Mar.)