The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights

July 17th, 1944, a massive explosion takes place in a segregated Navy base at Port Chicago, California. This explosion claimed over 300 sailors' lives, critically injured men in bunks, and shattered windows in a mile long radius. This event was the straw that broke the camel’s back and 244 men refused to go back to work until the unsafe conditions that had prompted the hazard were addressed -- August 9th. Fifty of them faced mutiny charges, many facing decades in jail and some even execution. The driver of these charges was ultimately prejudice in the heart of a time before the civil rights movement. This book talks about how those witness to this event or aware through the media couldn’t help but notice the inherent irony in segregation in the treatment of those who gave their lives in the service of the country.

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