IV 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 49 

Recognizing the victims of the Port Chicago explosion of July 17, 1944, 

the 75th anniversary of the greatest homeland loss of life of World 

War II, and exonerating the 50 African-American sailors unjustly courtmartialed by the Navy. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 11, 2019 

Mr. DESAULNIER (for himself and Ms. LEE of California) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 

Armed Services 

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 

Recognizing the victims of the Port Chicago explosion of 

July 17, 1944, the 75th anniversary of the greatest 

homeland loss of life of World War II, and exonerating 

the 50 African-American sailors unjustly court-martialed 

by the Navy. 

Whereas the Port Chicago Naval Magazine in Contra Costa 

County, California, was a vital supply facility for the 

Navy during World War II, shipping ordinance for use in 

the Pacific Theater; 

Whereas under the rules governing the Navy at the time, the 

Port Chicago Naval Magazine was operated as a segregated facility in which undertrained and poorly 

equipped African-American sailors, under the supervision 


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•HCON 49 IH 

of White officers, exclusively conducted the hazardous 

task of loading munitions aboard ships; 

Whereas there had been numerous complaints and warnings 

about the unsafe nature of the loading operations, including the conduct of contests by White officers to achieve 

the most rapid loading of ships despite the inherent dangers involved in such actions; 

Whereas on the night of July 17, 1944, the Port Chicago 

Naval Magazine and much of the town of Port Chicago 

were destroyed by a cataclysmic explosion that killed 320 

men, 202 of whom were African-American enlisted men; 

Whereas these losses on a single night represented one-fifth 

of all African-American naval casualties during World 

War II; 

Whereas following the catastrophe, none of the African-American survivors was provided survivor leave or other recuperative services provided to the White personnel, including the officers; 

Whereas African-American survivors of the explosion were ordered back to the Port Chicago site to conduct cleanup 

operations; 

Whereas on August 9, 1944, with no cause having been determined for the explosion and no additional training 

having been provided to the African-American loaders, 

328 men from three divisions were ordered to the loading 

pier at the nearby Mare Island, which served as the Port 

Chicago replacement facility; 

Whereas many of the men expressed concern about the inadequacy of safety procedures and training, leading to 258 

being arrested and confined for three days on a large 

barge tiered to the pier; 


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•HCON 49 IH 

Whereas the confined sailors were threatened with prosecution and potential execution, leading 208 to return to 

work; 

Whereas the 50 who refused to return to loading operations 

were subjected to the largest mass mutiny trial in naval 

history, which resulted, on October 24, 1944, in a conviction on the charge of mutiny and a sentence of up to 15 

years imprisonment and dishonorable discharge from the 

Navy; 

Whereas after appeals and widespread protests in January 

1946, which included the participation of future Supreme 

Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and former First Lady 

Eleanor Roosevelt, the Port Chicago men were released 

from prison but their convictions remained on their 

records; 

Whereas in a 1994 investigation, the United States Navy 

stated that ‘‘there is no doubt that racial prejudice was 

responsible for the posting of only African-American enlisted personnel to loading divisions at Port Chicago’’; 

Whereas the unfairness of the Port Chicago mutiny prosecution would ultimately serve as one of the catalysts for the 

1948 Executive Order requiring desegregation of the 

Armed Services; 

Whereas the Committee on Natural Resources of the House 

of Representatives conducted hearings on the Port Chicago case in 1993 and, in 1994, Congress, on a bipartisan basis, passed legislation creating the Port Chicago 

National Memorial as a feature of the National Park 

Service, including plaques commemorating those who lost 

their lives at the site in 1944; 


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•HCON 49 IH 

Whereas in 1999, a pardon was granted to one of the few 

surviving members of the Port Chicago 50, Freddie 

Meeks, by President William Clinton following a thorough 

review of the case; 

Whereas since 1999, substantial legal, academic, and journalistic inquiry has documented the inherent racial motivation behind the operations at Port Chicago and the prosecution of the Port Chicago 50; 

Whereas on December 16, 2015, the Secretary of the Navy, 

the Honorable Ray Mabus, wrote to the President 

‘‘strongly support[ing] executive action in favor of the 49 

remaining Sailors with general court-martial convictions 

or the 207 with summary court-martial convictions . . . 

in light of the well documented challenges associated with 

uniformed service by African Americans during that 

era.’’; 

Whereas in 2000, Congress approved S.J. Res. 26 to exonerate Captain Charles B. McVay III, captain of the USS 

Indianapolis, for his wrongful court martial, and President William Clinton signed that resolution on October 

30, 2000; 

Whereas the language of that resolution was enacted as section 545 of the Floyd D. Spence National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001 (Public Law 106– 

398), including language that Captain McVay’s military 

record ‘‘should now reflect that he is exonerated for the 

loss of the USS Indianapolis and so many of her crew’’; 

and 

Whereas on July 17, 2019, the Nation will mark the 75th anniversary of the Port Chicago disaster, and the unjust 


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•HCON 49 IH 

and racially motivated convictions remain on the records 

of the Port Chicago 50: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 

2 concurring), That Congress— 

3 (1) recognizes the service and sacrifice of those 

4 who served and perished at Port Chicago during 

5 World War II; 

6 (2) hereby and forever exonerates the Port Chi7 cago sailors of the charge of mutiny against the 

8 United States and any and all other charges brought 

9 against them in the aftermath of the July 17, 1944, 

10 explosion; 

11 (3) upgrades the general and summary dis12 charges issued to each of the Port Chicago sailors to 

13 honorable discharges; and 

14 (4) directs the Secretary of the Navy to place 

15 a letter attesting to these actions in the file of each 

16 of the Port Chicago sailors and to notify any sur17 viving family members of these actions. 

Æ 


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