“The events of Port Chicago are very important to our nation’s military history and racial history,” said Miller (D-CA). “What happened there 60 years ago helped lead to the desegregation of the US Navy and represented a critical part of America’s civil rights movement. This bill will give more Americans the opportunity to visit the historic site to learn from the events commemorated there.

“This bill will make sure that the contributions of the Port Chicago sailors and their families will not be forgotten and will provide assurances to the sailors and their families that the site will be properly maintained for generations to come.” Today’s committee action followed a congressional hearing on September 27th in which officials from the National Park Service, the Friends of Port Chicago, and the National Parks Conservation Association testified in favor of the bill.

Miller’s bill would increase the National Memorial’s accessibility, provide additional visitor services, and help ensure long-term preservation of the site.

Thousands of tons of ammunition exploded on the night of July 17, 1944, at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine. The blasts instantly killed 320 sailors, wounded hundreds more, and damaged and destroyed merchant ships, the pier, a train, and the buildings of Port Chicago. Less than a month after the tragedy, three divisions were ordered to resume work at a new site a few miles away. Most of the men refused to continue their dangerous tasks until supervision, training, and working conditions were improved. In response, the Navy charged fifty men with conspiring to mutiny; all were convicted.

The majority of the men killed while handling ordinance at Port Chicago, and all of those convicted of mutiny, were African-American. Their courts martial had clear racial implications, and was a turning point in the nation’s history of a segregated military.

Following the conviction, Thurgood Marshall, then a lawyer with the NAACP, took up the case. The Port Chicago disaster and its aftermath strongly influenced America’s move towards racial equality, including the Navy’s move toward desegregation in 1945, and President Truman’s 1948 Executive Order desegregating the Armed Forces and guaranteeing “equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin.”

The legislation, which Miller hopes will come to the House floor in the current Congressional session, directs the Secretary of the Interior to administer the Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial as a unit of the National Park System. In addition, when the site is determined to be excess to military needs, this new bill would transfer the property to the administrative jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior. The legislation has also been referred to the Armed Services Committee, which must act on the bill next.

In order to improve public access to the Memorial, the legislation authorizes the Interior Department to work with the City of Concord and the East Bay Regional Park District to establish and operate a facility for visitor orientation and parking, administrative offices, and curatorial storage for the Memorial. The bill also directs the Defense Department and the Interior Department to work together to repair storm damage to the site.

Congressman Miller has long championed the Port Chicago issue. He worked for over a decade in Congress on behalf of Port Chicago sailors and their families to preserve the historic site. His legislation in 1992 first designated the site of the Port Chicago Naval Magazine as a national memorial, and his subsequent efforts led to the pardon of one of the Port Chicago sailors. Since 1992, the Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial has been managed by the National Park Service to remind Americans of the contributions made by the Port Chicago sailors.