Black sailors exonerated on 80th anniversary of Port Chicago explosion that killed 320 men

by Tony Hicks, Bay City News July 18, 2024July 17, 2024

African American ordnance battalion sailors assemble 5-inch shells in a Port Chicago Naval Magazine workshop, circa 1943-44. A group of Black sailors who came to be known as the Port Chicago 50 and were charged with mutiny for refusing to work following the deadly blast at the Naval Weapons Station on July 17, 1944, have been exonerated by the U.S. Navy. (Photo courtesy U.S. Navy/National Park Service)

On the 80^th anniversary of the Port Chicago disaster, the U.S. Navy on Wednesday exonerated the 50 African American sailors convicted of mutiny after they refused to load explosives onto ships following explosions that killed 320 men.

The Navy also exonerated the 208 men who initially refused, then went back to work loading explosives, but were convicted of disobeying orders.

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