CA SJR15

On July 17, 1944, an explosion at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine killed approximately 320 American naval personnel (two-thirds African American) and injured 390 others, causing an estimated $12 million in property damage and accounting for nearly 15 percent of all African American naval casualties during World War II.

Fifty African American sailors were court-martialed and convicted of mutiny on October 24, 1944, after only 80 minutes of deliberation for refusing to return to ammunition loading duties; sentences ranged from 8 to 15 years in prison, with 11 men dishonorably discharged.

A 1994 Navy investigation acknowledged that racial prejudice was responsible for assigning only African American enlisted personnel to loading divisions at Port Chicago, and Congress later reduced death benefits for Port Chicago victims from $5,000 to $3,000 based on race.

California legislature urges the President of the United States and Congress to fully exonerate all 50 sailors who were court-martialed, clear their military records of any court judgment or less-than-honorable discharge, and restore honor to those unjustly blamed for the disaster.

Only one of the 50 men received a pardon from President William J. Clinton in 1999; the Thurgood Marshall Regional Park – Home of the Port Chicago 50 was established in 2021 to commemorate the sailors and Marshall's defense of them.