Port Chicago 50 by Steve Sheinkin

In the summer of 1944, 50 sailors, all of them African American, were tried and convicted of mutiny by the U.S. Navy. They had refused to follow a direct order of loading dangerous rockets and munitions on ships bound for battle in the Pacific after an enormous explosion had killed more than 300 of their fellow sailors and other civilians working on the dock. At the heart of this story is the rampant racism that permeated the military at all levels, leaving minority sailors and soldiers to do the drudge work almost exclusively while their white counterparts served on the front lines. Through extensive research, Sheinkin effectively re-creates both the tense atmosphere at Port Chicago before and after the disaster as well as the events that led to the men's refusal of this one particular order that they felt put them directly in harm's way. Much of the tension in this account stems from the growing frustration that readers are meant to feel as bigotry and discrimination are encountered at every turn and at every level of the military.
The attractive and user friendly format is laced with primary-source material, including interviews with the convicted sailors, court records, photographs, and other documents, all of which come together to tell a story that clearly had a huge impact on race relations in the military.
This little known event is placed in historical context with Thurgood Marshall, Jackie Robinson, and Eleanor Roosevelt figuring in the telling.
Sheinkin, who writes non-fiction with a “you are there” immediacy, gives voice to 50 new American heroes. “ If you are not outraged, you are not paying attention.”

Tessa's Picks, Nonfiction, 6th-8th grade, Social Justice, People of Color,

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