OppressionJuly 17, 1944
Black Sailors Forced to Load Munitions in Segregated Conditions
At Port Chicago Naval Magazine, Black enlisted men were ordered to load munitions under dangerous conditions with no safety training while white officers bet on which crew would load fastest. An explosion killed 320 men — 202 of them Black. When survivors refused to return to the same conditions, 50 were court-martialed for mutiny.