Port Chicago Mutiny: A National Tragedy

KRON-TV Emmy Award winning documentary from 1990 presented by Danny Glover which examines events surrounding the largest mutiny trial in US Navy history, known as the Port Chicago Mutiny Trial. Includes a summary of the Port Chicago disaster of July 17, 1944 which preceded the mutiny, dramatic re-enactments from the trial based on court transcripts and interviews with three survivors of the disaster: Percy Robinson, Robert Routh, Jr. and Joseph Small. Note that approximately two-thirds of the 320 people who died in the Port Chicago disaster were African American sailors, and all of the 50 sailors who were convicted of mutiny for refusing to load ammunitions in the immediate aftermath of the disaster - the "port Chicago 50" - were African American.

This film was written and produced and photographed by Will Robinson and Ken Swartz, directed by Ken Swartz and edited by Karyne Holmes. Thanks to Jim Swanson for donating a copy to the archive. Opening graphic designed by Carrie Hawks.