The Mare Island Mutiny: Pressure to Desegregate the U.S. Armed Forces

Russell Olwell

Reprinted from the OAH Magazine of History
15 (Winter 2001). ISSN 0882-228X
Copyright (c) 2001, Organization of American Historians

This situation did not pass without protest. Officials of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and other African American groups put pressure on Franklin Roosevelt's administration to open up opportunities in the armed forces to all, regardless of race. Soldiers and sailors themselves fought back against unfair treatment in the army and navy, advocating change from within the services.

The most dramatic example of this pressure from below was the August 1944 case of the Mare Island Mutiny, in which fifty African American sailors were imprisoned because they refused to work unloading ammunition. These sailors were part of a unit that, only one month earlier, had lost 202 men in an ammunition explosion at Port Chicago, California, an accident that took place while they were loading the same type of ammunition. These men objected to their treatment by the navy, and demanded an end to a system in which African Americans were segregated into the hardest and most dangerous work.

In this exercise, students will learn about the Mare Island Mutiny by simulating a present-day congressional hearing on the mutiny to evaluate whether justice was done in the original military trial. Students will take the roles of the navy, representatives of the defendants, and members of Congress, and will present and analyze evidence based on primary sources about the events.

At minimum, five forty-minute class periods or three ninety-minute block periods are needed for this exercise.

1. To interpret primary documents.

2. To use historical evidence to make contemporary arguments.

3. To understand the policies of the armed forces toward African Americans during World War II.

4. To recognize the efforts of African American soldiers and sailors to change racial policies in the U.S. armed forces.

World War II was a turning point for African Americans and the armed forces. Even though most African American soldiers had seen no combat in World War I, black Americans expected to engage in combat in World War II. African Americans enlisted in the army, navy, and marines, only to find segregated training, few opportunities for promotion, and assignments for jobs as laborers, stevedores, and other manual jobs. Worse yet, training and bases in the American South enforced local segregation practices and segregated canteens and PX posts.

African Americans protested their treatment, however. Some refused to be drafted until segregation and discrimination were abolished from the armed forces. Several of these protesters spent years in jail for their beliefs. African American organizations, such as the NAACP and National Urban League, pressured the Roosevelt administration to desegregate the armed forces, but military resistance to integration made Roosevelt slow to act on this demand.

During the war African American soldiers and sailors would not accept poor treatment at the hands of the armed forces or civilians. In 1942 an argument between black and white soldiers over precedence at a telephone booth led to a confrontation in which three soldiers died and five were wounded. According to the Pittsburgh Courier, in June 1943 fighting between black and white soldiers, or between black soldiers and white civilians, claimed at least four lives in what were called "Dixie clashes." Still, the armed forces did not change--in 1943, 425,000 of 504,000 African American troops were still stationed in the United States in service roles, rather than fighting in Europe or the Pacific.

By 1944 frustration with this situation reached a breaking point. One example of the refusal to accept discriminatory treatment occurred at Mare Island, where in August 1944, 258 African American sailors refused to load ammunition, a dangerous task assigned almost exclusively to blacks. The units involved had, only a month before, lost over two hundred men in an explosion at Port Chicago, when similar work had led to tragedy.

The navy did not see the refusal to work as protest but as mutiny, a capital offense. The navy threatened the protesters with death, and 208 men agreed to return to work. These men were not sent back to their jobs, however, but were tried, given dishonorable discharges, and fined three months' pay for their refusal to obey orders. The remaining fifty men who refused to work were imprisoned and tried in the largest mass mutiny trial in American history. Their case became the focus of NAACP protests, which publicized the trial as an example of the navy's segregationist and discriminatory policies.

The fifty men were found guilty and sentenced to fifteen years in prison. NAACP lawyer Thurgood Marshall, who was an observer at the mutiny trial, took up the appeal of the men’s case to Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal. It was not until January 1947 that the Secretary of the Navy released the men from prison. The next month, Forrestal announced an end to discrimination in navy assignments, paving the way for the 1949 decision to completely integrate naval units. Without pressure from protest, both from outside groups and inside the armed forces, it is doubtful any progress would have been made in desegregating the armed forces during the 1940s.

Day 1. Distribute fact sheets and primary documents to all groups. These can be read in class or assigned as homework before the first day of the activity.

Day 2. Divide students into three groups. One group (five to six students) represents the defendants in the Mare Island mutiny trial, while another group (five to six students) represents the navy. All remaining members of the class serve as members of Congress, asking questions and hearing evidence. If the class is large enough, two hearings can be run back to back so students get to take both a presentation and evaluation role in the simulation. The defense and navy groups review evidence, prepare two witnesses for examination, and write their case brief, introductory remarks, and closing statements.

Days 3-4. The presentation to the committee should take the following format:

A. Opening statements: The navy makes its opening statement, followed by the defense.

B. Navy witnesses are called to testify. These witnesses make a statement before the committee of what they know about the case, and are then questioned by the congressional committee members.

C. The defense witnesses are called to testify, following the same procedure as prosecution witnesses.

D. The defense makes its closing statement, summing up the evidence as presented at the hearing. The prosecution then makes its closing statement.

E. The committee is free to ask questions of lawyers and witnesses at any time, as long as it does not interrupt the hearing too much (teacher's discretion).

Day 5. The committee debates and votes on its final decision. Using the briefs, evidence, and information provided by the witnesses, the committee determines whether the sentences against the men should be set aside by congressional action.

Allen, Robert L. The Port Chicago Mutiny. New York: Warner Books, 1989.

Buchanan, A. Russell. Black Americans in World War II. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-Clio, 1977.

McGuire, Phillip, ed. Taps for a Jim Crow Army: Letters from Black Soldiers in World War II. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-Clio, 1983.

Wynn, Neil A. The Afro-American and the Second World War. New York: Holmes and Meier, 1993.

1. Directions for Students.

2. Score sheets for members of Congress.

3. Chronology of Mare Island Mutiny Trial.

4. Thurgood Marshall, "Statement on the Trial of the Negro Sailors at Yerba Buena, September 22, 1944."

5. Letter from Louis Denfield, Bureau of Naval Personnel, to Walter White, NAACP.

6. Letter from Walter White to Louis Denfield.

All primary sources are from the NAACP collection in the Library of Congress.

Russell Olwell is an assistant professor of history at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Michigan.