6 April 2014 THE PORT CHICAGO 50: DISASTER, MUTINY, AND THE FIGHT FOR CIVIL RIGHTS by Steve Sheinkin, Roaring Brook, January 2014, 208p., ISBN: 978-1-59643-796-8

At the conclusion of THE PORT CHICAGO 50, author Steve Sheinkin points out that the fifty defendants in this racist miscarriage of military justice are all now deceased, and so it is too late to fully remedy what was done to them.  Nevertheless, as the author notes, there are people who know the story who are still seeking to exonerate the names of these men.

Taking Sheinkin’s point as an opportunity to make a difference, I decided to write to First Lady Michelle Obama.  I am hoping that she will both encourage her daughters to read this exceptional story and encourage her husband to take steps to clear the names of these fifty black soldiers whose actions played a role in jumpstarting the U.S. Civil Rights Movement.

I likewise encourage you to read THE PORT CHICAGO 50, to share it with young people, and to send your own email messages to Mrs. Obama via the whitehouse.gov site.

Dear Mrs. Obama:

Perhaps back in one your African American studies classes at Princeton, you learned something about the Port Chicago 50.  Perhaps you didn't.  I am a huge fan and student of American history, but I had never heard this story involving segregated black naval units, stationed here in the San Francisco Bay area at Port Chicago during WWII, assigned to load bombs onto ships.  I do know all about these men now, thanks to the recently-published book for young people, THE PORT CHICAGO 50: DISASTER, MUTINY, AND THE FIGHT FOR CIVIL RIGHTS by Steve Sheinkin.  Mr. Sheinkin, has come to be one of my favorite storytellers of American history for young people and has been winning quite a few awards along the way for his well-researched books.  I enthusiastically recommend that you read this book and share it with your daughters.

We learn that the white officers who commanded the black units who were carrying out this extremely dangerous work made a horse race out of the work by placing bets on how many tons of bombs the various divisions could load onto the ships.  The officers then pressured the divisions to work even faster.  This cavalier attitude toward safety and the expendability of black soldiers led to a tragedy in 1944 in which 320 men were killed in a massive explosion felt 30 miles away in Berkeley.  

In response, despite threats of being shot for disobedience, fifty brave servicemen in the segregated units refused to resume loading bombs under these oppressive conditions.  The farce of a military proceeding that followed found them all guilty of treason and sentenced them to hard labor. While Thurgood Marshall’s efforts eventually resulted in a mitigation of the sentences, the records of these fifty men have never been cleared.

Having grown up watching news of the Civil Rights Movement unfold, I found your husband’s election to be a powerful and fulfilling experience. Yet I keep learning about the unfinished business in our nation’s history. The story of the Port Chicago 50, which preceded our lifetimes and yet contributed to the movement that was so important in our own era, has a final chapter waiting to be written: exonerating the names of these servicemen.

It would be so perfect if these victims of racism were posthumously vindicated by our nation's first black president.  I am therefore hoping that you might read Mr. Sheinkin's book and help write this final chapter.

Best wishes,

Richie Partington

Richie Partington, MLIS

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