An American Mutiny in WWII

HISTORY This Week

The HISTORY® Channel

History, Education, Society & Culture

4.6 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 7 October 2024

⏱️ 33 minutes

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Summary

October 9th, 1944. In California, 50 U.S. sailors are on trial for the Navy’s most serious crime, mutiny. It’s a rarely used charge, yet these 50 sailors—all of whom are Black—face the death penalty if convicted. But today, their chances of a fair trial get a little better. Thurgood Marshall enters the courtroom. He is the lead attorney for the NAACP, and believes that this trial is a direct result of ongoing segregation and racism in the U.S. military. Knowing the odds are against him, Marshall will do everything he can to prevent a miscarriage of justice. Today, the Port Chicago Mutiny. Why did 50 Black sailors working on the homefront get charged with a capital crime? And with Thurgood Marshall on their side, will justice prevail in the courtroom? Special thanks to Matthew Delmont, professor of history at Dartmouth College and author of Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad; and Steve Sheinkin, author of The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights. To stay updated: historythisweekpodcast.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The History Channel Original Podcast.
0:04.7	History this week, October 9, 1944.
0:11.2	I'm Sally Helm. A makeshift courtroom has been hastily assembled in a small
0:18.0	wooden building that used to be a barracks. It's on a US Navy base in the middle of San Francisco Bay. of They are on trial for mutant, the Navy's most serious crime.
0:36.0	The potential punishment is execution.
0:40.0	A panel of officers sits in judgment. They're all white, the lawyers too. In fact, until today, all the people in power in this courtroom have been white. But this morning that changes.
0:58.0	Into this courtroom walks lawyer Thurgood Marshall.
1:05.0	He'll eventually become the first black Supreme Court justice.
1:10.0	And on this day in 1944, he's one of just a few hundred black lawyers in the US, and he's the lead attorney for the NAACP.
1:19.2	Marshall is imposing, 6 foot 2.
1:23.0	And he has a good track record defending black Americans
1:26.9	in courtrooms where they're not likely to be treated as equals.
1:31.2	Marshall has logged 50,000 miles of travel each year for equals. hero in black communities. People have a phrase they'll say sometimes when injustice rears up.
1:45.6	Hold on. Thurgoods coming. And today he has come to California.
1:59.4	Marshall believes that these 50 block sailors are innocent. They've been accused of conspiring to disobey orders, mutiny, but he thinks this wasn't a mutiny.
2:06.2	These men acted out of desperation, reacting to military institutions that didn't value their lives.
2:15.1	For now, Thurgood Marshall can't intervene.
2:18.4	This is a military tribunal and he's a civilian.
2:22.2	All he can do is watch as the military makes its case.
2:25.0	But in his mind, Marshall is preparing for the appeal.
2:30.0	If these men are found guilty, he wants to be ready, because he might be the only person who can save them from a death sentence.
2:39.0	Today, the Port Chicago Mutiny.
	...

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