A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The U.S. Navy this week exonerated 50 Black sailors who were convicted of mutiny after a military disaster during World War II. As NPR's Gabriel Spitzer explains, it took 80 years and a hard look at the military's complicated record on race.
GABRIEL SPITZER, BYLINE: The story starts in 1944 in Port Chicago, Calif., a small town about 30 miles from San Francisco. A crew of mostly African American sailors were loading ordnance onto ships there when disaster struck.
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UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR: The explosion of two munition ships in San Francisco Bay shocks the world.
SPITZER: Historian Regina Akers of the Naval History and Heritage Command says the blast was massive.
REGINA AKERS: About 10:15 that night, there was an incredible explosion and, within seconds, a second explosion, a much larger one, which literally lit up the skies at Port Chicago and sent debris some 9-, 10 thousand feet in the air.
SPITZER: Some 320 sailors, civilians and support personnel were killed in the blast. About 400 more were injured. The surviving white officers were granted leave to recover while the Black sailors were ordered right back to work.
AKERS: They were scared to death not knowing what caused the explosion, the likelihood that another explosion would happen. I think they also realized if they went back to work, then nothing would change.
SPITZER: Two hundred and eight sailors refused to go back to work. Threatened with courts-martial, most complied, but 50 sailors held out. That group was convicted of conspiracy to commit mutiny and sentenced to hard labor along with dishonorable discharges.
AKERS: The men, of course, are shocked that they're being charged with mutiny. They weren't sure - quite sure what they meant. They had heard about mutiny on ships, and they weren't trying to take over anything in their eyes. They weren't doing anything wrong.
SPITZER: Very quickly, there were calls to revisit those convictions. Over the decades, multiple administrations looked into possible pardons or exonerations, but it took until Wednesday for the Navy to officially clear their names.
CARLOS DEL TORO: In this case, I think there were many injustices that demanded our complete attention to try to bring justice to this case.
SPITZER: U.S. Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro says, even an 80-year-old injustice matters to service members today.
DEL TORO: We're not going to turn a blind eye to the racial discrimination against African American sailors in our history. This decision, I think, does demonstrate our entire department's commitment for correcting historical injustices and ensuring that all service members, regardless of their backgrounds, are treated fairly and equitably.
SPITZER: The exonerations dismissed the courts-martial and grant honorable discharges to all the sailors. None of the Port Chicago 50 was still alive to see it.
Gabriel Spitzer, NPR News.
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