The Port Chicago Disaster

Author : Steve Sheinkin
Publisher : Macmillan
ISBN 13 : 1596437960
Total Pages : 209 pages
Book Rating : 4.68/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Port Chicago 50 written by Steve Sheinkin and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2014-01-21 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Describes the fifty black sailors who refused to work in unsafe and unfair conditions after an explosion in Port Chicago killed 320 servicemen, and how the incident influenced civil rights.

Author : Charles River Charles River Editors
Publisher : Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN 13 : 9781985759541
Total Pages : 76 pages
Book Rating : 4.43/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Port Chicago Disaster written by Charles River Charles River Editors and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-02-21 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures *Includes accounts about the incident written by witnesses and survivors *Includes online references and a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents "The fact that these men were wearing the uniform of the United States Navy made no difference." - Steve Sheinkin, The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights In World War II, hundreds of thousands of American soldiers were killed across the world, whether in Japanese jungles, North African deserts, or European beaches. Given that backdrop, and the sheer magnitude of the war, people understandably became desensitized to incidents and tragedies that cost hundreds of lives. This was undoubtedly the case with the notorious Port Chicago disaster, a munitions explosion in July 1944 that killed over 300 people and injured over 300 more, many of them Navy sailors. Since the explosion took place just a little over a month after D-Day, not to mention the fact that a majority of the casualties were African-American, little attention was paid to the tragedy. Among those who did, some believed the men had not been trained well enough, while others said that they were being pushed by their officers to race each other in work that should have been done slowly and carefully. The only thing everyone could agree on was that something went very wrong. If anything, the episode not only underscored the Navy's segregation policies but also demonstrated just how pervasive racism was at the time. The disaster was so deadly that 15% of all African-American Naval casualties in the war occurred on and around the dock in California that day, and while many appreciated the work the soldiers did, others denigrated their efforts. In fact, one shocking report contained the following slanderous remarks: "These enlisted personnel were unreliable, emotional, lacked capacity to understand or remember orders or instructions, were particularly susceptible to mass psychology and moods, lacked mechanical aptitude, were suspicious of strange officers, disliked receiving orders of any kind, particularly from white officers or petty officers, and were inclined to look for and make an issue of discrimination. Because of the level of intelligence and education of the enlisted personnel, it was impracticable to train them by any method other than by actual demonstration. Many of the men were incapable of reading and understanding the most simple directions [T]he officers at Port Chicago have realized for a long time the necessity for great effort on their part because of the poor quality of the personnel with which they had to work. They worked loyally, conscientiously, intelligently, and effectively to make themselves competent officers and to solve the problem of loading ships safely with the men provided." In reality, it was not the mental incapacity of the sailors but the unsafe conditions they were exposed to that ultimately caused the disaster. In the wake of the accident, black sailors and civilians alike demanded change, to the extent that some around Port Chicago subsequently refused to load munitions on ships. While the "Port Chicago Mutiny" led to some arrests, the simmering tensions helped spur overall policy changes, and eventually the U.S. Navy began to desegregate its forces in early 1946. The Port Chicago Disaster: The History of America's Deadliest Homeland Incident during World War II chronicles the story of the disaster and its aftermath. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about the Port Chicago disaster like never before, in no time at all.

Author : Robert L. Allen
Publisher : Heyday Books
ISBN 13 : 9781597140287
Total Pages : 198 pages
Book Rating : 4.87/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Port Chicago Mutiny written by Robert L. Allen and published by Heyday Books. This book was released on 2006 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During World War II, Port Chicago was a segregated naval munitions base on the outer shores of San Francisco Bay. Black seamen were required to load ammunition onto ships bound for the South Pacific under the watch of their white officers--an incredibly dangerous and physically challenging task. On July 17, 1944, an explosion rocked the base, killing 320 men--202 of whom were black ammunition loaders. In the ensuing weeks, white officers were given leave time and commended for heroic efforts, whereas 328 of the surviving black enlistees were sent to load ammunition on another ship. When they refused, fifty men were singled out and charged--and convicted--of mutiny. It was the largest mutiny trial in U.S. naval history. First published in 1989, The Port Chicago Mutiny is a thorough and riveting work of civil rights literature, and with a new preface and epilogue by the author emphasize the event's relevance today.

Author : Robert L. Allen
Publisher : HarperPB
ISBN 13 : 9781567430103
Total Pages : 244 pages
Book Rating : 4.04/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Port Chicago Mutiny written by Robert L. Allen and published by HarperPB. This book was released on 1993-07-01 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: History of the disastrous explosion at a World War II Navy dock north of Oakland, California that killed hundreds of people, many of them African-American dock workers. Later when the workers mutinied against unsafe working conditions, the "Port Chicago 50" were sentenced at a courts-martial trial to prison. After public outcry, almost all the sentences were reduced.

Author : Dean L. McLeod
Publisher : Arcadia Publishing
ISBN 13 : 9780738555515
Total Pages : 132 pages
Book Rating : 4.17/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Port Chicago written by Dean L. McLeod and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2007 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Looks at the history of Port Chicago, California, an all-American town and naval facility which came into being in 1908 on Suisaun Bay in Contra Costa County and was dissolved in 1968 when property was bought and buildings demolished by the Federal Govern

Author : Lesa Cline-Ransome
Publisher : Holiday House
ISBN 13 : 0823446042
Total Pages : 259 pages
Book Rating : 4.49/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Being Clem written by Lesa Cline-Ransome and published by Holiday House. This book was released on 2021-08-03 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The final novel in the award-winning Finding Langston trilogy from Coretta Scott King Author Honoree and Scott O'Dell Award medalist Lesa Cline-Ransome. Clem can make anybody, even his grumpy older sisters, smile with his jokes. But when his family receives news that his father has died in the infamous Port Chicago disaster, everything begins to fall apart. Clem's mother is forced to work long, tough hours as a maid for a wealthy white family. Soon Clem can barely recognize his home--and himself. Can he live up to his father's legacy? In her award-winning trilogy, Lesa Cline-Ransome masterfully recreates mid-twentieth century America through the eyes of three boys: Langston, Lymon, and, now, Clem. Exploring the impact of the Great Migration, the Harlem Renaissance, Jim Crow laws, and much more, Lesa's work manages at once to be both an intimate portrait of each boy and his family as well as a landscape of American history. A Kirkus Reviews Best Middle Grade Book of the Year A Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year A CCBC Choice A Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Blue Ribbon Book! A CSMCL Best Multicultural Children's Book of the Year A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection --- Praise for Finding Langston, a Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book and winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction "There aren't any explosions in this spare story. Nor is there a happy ending. Instead, Langston discovers something more enduring: solace."--The New York Times * "This crisply paced book is full of historical details of the Great Migration and the role a historic branch library played in preserving African American literary culture."--The Horn Book, Starred Review * "This is a story that will stay with readers long after they've finished it."--School Library Journal, Starred Review * "The impact on the reader could not be more powerful. A memorable debut novel."--Booklist, Starred Review * "A fascinating work of historical fiction . . . Cline-Ransome at her best."--Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review * "Finding Langston is about cultural heritage and personal growth and, at its heart, about finding home wherever you land."--Shelf Awareness, Starred Review

Author : Morris J. MacGregor
Publisher : e-artnow
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 628 pages
Book Rating : 4.60/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Integration of the Armed Forces, 1940-1965 written by Morris J. MacGregor and published by e-artnow. This book was released on 2020-06-18 with total page 628 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In the quarter century that followed American entry into World War II, the nation's armed forces moved from the reluctant inclusion of a few segregated Negroes to their routine acceptance in a racially integrated military establishment. Nor was this change confined to military installations. By the time it was over, the armed forces had redefined their traditional obligation for the welfare of their members to include a promise of equal treatment for black servicemen wherever they might be. In the name of equality of treatment and opportunity, the Department of Defense began to challenge racial injustices deeply rooted in American society. For all its sweeping implications, equality in the armed forces obviously had its pragmatic aspects. In one sense it was a practical answer to pressing political problems that had plagued several national administrations. In another, it was the services' expression of those liberalizing tendencies that were permeating American society during the era of civil rights activism. But to a considerable extent the policy of racial equality that evolved in this quarter century was also a response to the need for military efficiency. So easy did it become to demonstrate the connection between inefficiency and discrimination that, even when other reasons existed, military efficiency was the one most often evoked by defense officials to justify a change in racial policy."_x000D_ Morris J. MacGregor, Jr., received the A.B. and M.A. degrees in history from the Catholic University of America. He continued his graduate studies at the Johns Hopkins University and the University of Paris on a Fulbright grant. Before joining the staff of the U.S. Army Center of Military History in 1968 he served for ten years in the Historical Division of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Author : Gene Eric Salecker
Publisher : University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN 13 : 0806147458
Total Pages : 346 pages
Book Rating : 4.51/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Second Pearl Harbor written by Gene Eric Salecker and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2014-08-20 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In May 1944, with American forces closing in on the Japanese mainland, the Fifth Fleet Amphibious Force was preparing to invade Saipan. Control of this island would put enemy cities squarely within range of the B-29 bomber. The navy had assembled a fleet of landing ship tanks (LSTs) in the West Loch section of Pearl Harbor. On May 21, an explosion tore through the calm afternoon sky, spreading fire and chaos through the ordnance-packed vessels. When the fires had been brought under control, six LSTs had been lost, many others were badly damaged, and more than 500 military personnel had been killed or injured. To ensure the success of those still able to depart for the invasion—miraculously, only one day late—the navy at once issued a censorship order, which has kept this disaster from public scrutiny for seventy years. The Second Pearl Harbor is the first book to tell the full story of what happened on that fateful day. Military historian Gene Salecker recounts the events and conditions leading up to the explosion, then re-creates the drama directly afterward: men swimming through flaming oil, small craft desperately trying to rescue the injured, and subsequent explosions throwing flaming debris everywhere. With meticulous attention to detail the author explains why he and other historians believe that the official explanation for the cause of the explosion, that a mortar shell was accidentally detonated, is wrong. This in-depth account of a little-known incident adds to our understanding of the dangers during World War II, even far from the front, and restores a missing chapter to history.

Author : Ted Wachholz
Publisher : Arcadia Publishing
ISBN 13 : 9780738534411
Total Pages : 132 pages
Book Rating : 4.12/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Eastland Disaster written by Ted Wachholz and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2005 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A pictorial chronicle of the events of July 24, 1915, when the steamship Eastland capsized and sank in the port of Chicago, killing over eight hundred people.

Author : Steve Sheinkin
Publisher : Roaring Brook Press
ISBN 13 : 1250291038
Total Pages : 258 pages
Book Rating : 4.35/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Bomb (Graphic Novel) written by Steve Sheinkin and published by Roaring Brook Press. This book was released on 2023-01-24 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A riveting graphic novel adaptation of the award-winning nonfiction book, Bomb—the fascinating and frightening true story of the creation behind the most destructive force that birthed the arms race and the Cold War. In December of 1938, a chemist in a German laboratory made a shocking discovery: When placed next to radioactive material, a Uranium atom split in two. That simple discovery launched a scientific race that spanned three continents. In Great Britain and the United States, Soviet spies worked their way into the scientific community; in Norway, a commando force slipped behind enemy lines to attack German heavy-water manufacturing; and deep in the desert, one brilliant group of scientists was hidden away at a remote site at Los Alamos. This is the story of the plotting, the risk-taking, the deceit, and genius that created the world's most formidable weapon. This is the story of the atomic bomb. New York Times bestselling author Steve Sheinkin's award-winning nonfiction book is now available reimagined in the graphic novel format. Full color illustrations from Nick Bertozzi are detailed and enriched with the nonfiction expertise Nick brings to the story as a beloved artist, comic book writer, and commercial illustrator who has written a couple of his own historical graphic novels, including Shackleton and Lewis & Clark. Accessible, gripping, and educational, this new edition of Bomb is perfect for young readers and adults alike. Praise for Bomb (2012): “This superb and exciting work of nonfiction would be a fine tonic for any jaded adolescent who thinks history is 'boring.' It's also an excellent primer for adult readers who may have forgotten, or never learned, the remarkable story of how nuclear weaponry was first imagined, invented and deployed—and of how an international arms race began well before there was such a thing as an atomic bomb.” —The Wall Street Journal “This is edge-of-the seat material that will resonate with YAs who clamor for true spy stories, and it will undoubtedly engross a cross-market audience of adults who dozed through the World War II unit in high school.” —The Bulletin (starred review) Also by Steve Sheinkin: Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War Born to Fly: The First Women's Air Race Across America The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism & Treachery Which Way to the Wild West?: Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn't Tell You About Westward Expansion King George: What Was His Problem?: Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn't Tell You About the American Revolution Two Miserable Presidents: Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn't Tell You About the Civil War