Port Chicago was a major munitions loading depot in California. All munitions used by the US in the World War II (WWII) Pacific Theater went through Port Chicago.
The worst tragedy on the Home Front in WWII occurred on July 17, 1944 when an explosion obliterated the port and its primarily African American operators.
In the aftermath, the US Navy prosecuted black sailors who were courageous enough to refuse working under terrible conditions. As stated by Park Ranger Betty Reid Soskin, the sailors' resolve can be described as the ‘embers’ of the modern civil rights movement. Eighty years later, reflecting on the repercussions of the trial, the US Navy has finally exonerated the workers.
This film is a collaborative effort between the National Parks of the San Francisco Bay Area, CA
and the Roosevelt-Vanderbilt National Historic Sites of Hyde Park, NY
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