The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights

The Port Chicago 50 opens with the story of Dorie Miller, a mess attendant assigned to the USS West Virginia. Though Miller boasts a formidable physique as “the ship’s heavyweight boxing champ,” Miller is only allowed to work as a mess attendant cooking and doing laundry for the ship’s white sailors because he is AfricanAmerican (1). On December 7, 1941, the ship is stationed at Pearl Harbor and becomes caught in the Japanese attack on the port. When the ship is attacked by torpedoes, Miller runs from the laundry to the deck. Surrounded by “smoke and chaos,” Miller spots a vacant anti-aircraft machine gun and begins using it to fight back, despite never having been trained (3). After the battle, Miller earns a Navy Cross medal for his bravery—the first time an African-American sailor had been awarded the medal. However, in spite of the honor, Miller returns to work as a mess attendant, the only work black sailors are allowed to perform during World War II.

Sheinkin traces the history of the Navy’s policy limiting black sailors to work as mess attendants, a policy that originated with George Washington during the American Revolutionary War. Though the revolutionary army originally enlisted African-American soldiers, slave owners feared that armed soldiers would result in slave rebellions and pressure Washington to stop accepting African-American soldiers.