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On July 17, 1944, there was a huge explosion at Port Chicago in California. Of the 320 men on duty at the pier that died, 202 of them were Black. Robert Allen's book, "The Port Chicago Mutiny: The Story of the Largest Mass Mutiny Trial in U.S. Naval History," covers the story of poor working conditions, the explosion, work stoppage, the trial and the outcome. There is an excerpt of Joe Small, recalling what happened, when he was a sailor present there.
Events not recorded in history books is what prompted John D. Weaver to write "The Brownsville Raid: The Story of America's Black Dreyfus Affair". Weaver had heard the story of Black Army soldiers causing a raucous, when they were actually set up. Without even being granted a trial, President Theodore Roosevelt, dismissed those soldiers from the United States Army, Weaver explained.