How Port Chicago Changed the World
By: Abigail
Port Chicago Information
Port Chicago is a Navy Port in California where ammunition was loaded and shipped primarily by African Americans out to the soldiers fighting in World War II (Sheinkin). Untrained African American soldiers had to load the ammunition while white soldiers commanded them. Some of this ammunition included small caliber bullets, incendiary bombs, fragmentation bombs, depth charges, and bombs up to 2,000 pounds(Browne). The cargo nets were lowered by the ships booms into a hatch, where they were packed layer by layer and secured with dunnage. The job was very dangerous and the proper precautions were often not taken. According to Captain Nelson Gross, commanding officer at Port Chicago, “[I] didn’t want black workers... Most of the men obtained from these races do not compare favorably with those of the white race,” (Sheinkin 23). This shows that the Navy is a highly racially segregated force and believed that African Americans were not capable of completing …show more content…
In The Port Chicago 50, it states, “Joe and other recruits were sent to the US Naval Training Center at Great Lakes, Illinois, a sprawling complex on the banks of Lake Michigan...The black recruits were housed in their own separate camp...The Navy needed somewhere to train these men, but didn’t want them mixing with the white recruits,” (Sheinkin 16). This shows how the Navy was very segregated in the housing and training of their recruits. People had been separated by the color of their skin because white people thought that any skin color that wasn’t white meant the person was unintelligent. The commanders of the Navy went with it anyways because they knew that they had soldiers overseas that needed ammunition to fight in WWII and they thought that having black soldiers do the hard dangerous work was less costly than having white lives in
By: Abigail
Port Chicago Information
Port Chicago is a Navy Port in California where ammunition was loaded and shipped primarily by African Americans out to the soldiers fighting in World War II (Sheinkin). Untrained African American soldiers had to load the ammunition while white soldiers commanded them. Some of this ammunition included small caliber bullets, incendiary bombs, fragmentation bombs, depth charges, and bombs up to 2,000 pounds(Browne). The cargo nets were lowered by the ships booms into a hatch, where they were packed layer by layer and secured with dunnage. The job was very dangerous and the proper precautions were often not taken. According to Captain Nelson Gross, commanding officer at Port Chicago, “[I] didn’t want black workers... Most of the men obtained from these races do not compare favorably with those of the white race,” (Sheinkin 23). This shows that the Navy is a highly racially segregated force and believed that African Americans were not capable of completing …show more content…
In The Port Chicago 50, it states, “Joe and other recruits were sent to the US Naval Training Center at Great Lakes, Illinois, a sprawling complex on the banks of Lake Michigan...The black recruits were housed in their own separate camp...The Navy needed somewhere to train these men, but didn’t want them mixing with the white recruits,” (Sheinkin 16). This shows how the Navy was very segregated in the housing and training of their recruits. People had been separated by the color of their skin because white people thought that any skin color that wasn’t white meant the person was unintelligent. The commanders of the Navy went with it anyways because they knew that they had soldiers overseas that needed ammunition to fight in WWII and they thought that having black soldiers do the hard dangerous work was less costly than having white lives in