“Thurgood Marshall Regional Park — Home of the Port Chicago 50” is now the name of the new East Bay Regional Park District open space at the site of the former Concord Naval Weapons Station.
The park district’s Board of Directors at their June 1 meeting unanimously approved the name in honor of the young African American sailors serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II whot stood up to the military’s racially discriminatory policies of the day. It also recognizes Thurgood Marshall, who was an attorney for the NAACP at the time and supported the Black sailors during their court-martial proceedings. He later became the first Black member of the U.S. Supreme Court. This is the first regional park in Contra Costa County to be named after an African American.
The U.S. military was segregated during World War II, and Black sailors who enlisted were often relegated to especially dangerous assignments such as loading munitions onto ships by hand. One such loading point was the Port Chicago Naval Magazine. Work was around the clock, often rushed, with few if any safety precautions. On July 17, 1944, two vessels loaded with ammunition at Port Chicago exploded with a force felt as far away as San Francisco, killing 320 men, mostly teenagers, and wounding 390 others. The explosion accounted for a quarter of all African American deaths during the war.
Surviving Black sailors were ordered to return to work loading munitions not long after the explosion. Many refused. Fifty of them were charged with mutiny and ultimately discharged dishonorably. The Port Chicago 50 wrote to Thurgood Marshall, as he was the NAACP’s lead counsel, requesting that he attend their trial. Marshall did so. Afterward he wrote articles and gave public speeches, charging that the Navy was “on trial for its whole vicious policy toward Negroes.”
His campaign to expose racism in the trial of the Port Chicago 50 ultimately led to the desegregation of the military and was a precursor to the broader civil rights movement. President Harry Truman issued an executive order on July 26, 1948, that desegregated the U.S. armed forces. Despite years of advocacy by elected officials and community organizations, though, the Port Chicago 50 have never been exonerated.
The U.S. Navy and National Park Service officially transferred 2,500 acres of open space to the park district in 2019 after a two-decade process brought about by the decommissioning of the Concord Naval Weapons Station in the 1990s. After road improvements and other upgrades, district officials plan to open a portion of the expansive park south of Bailey Road within the next two to three years.
Juneteenth: In commemoration of Juneteenth, the park district is partnering with Outdoor Afro and local business leaders by waiving regional park entry fees on Juneteenth, June 19. Juneteenth is an annual recognition of the 250,000 enslaved Black Americans in Texas who learned of their freedom 2½ years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863, outlawing slavery in Texas and the other Confederate states.
According to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, enforcement of the proclamation depended on the arrival of Union Army troops. At the end of the Civil War there were few Union troops in Texas. On June 19, 1865, Union Army Gen. Gordon Granger issued General Order No. 3 in Galveston, proclaiming freedom from slavery in Texas. Juneteenth is now either a state or ceremonial holiday in all states except Hawaii and the Dakotas.
Outdoor Afro is a national nonprofit organization that encourages Black connections and leadership in nature. For Juneteenth, the organization is encouraging 50,000 people nationwide to reflect on what freedom means in America by spending 2½ hours in nature — in a nearby park, forest or beach — to recognize the 2½ years of freedom denied in the 1860s.
“We are thrilled that many local business leaders have joined this commemoration by providing their employees a day off work to reflect on what freedom means to them, and we are grateful for the park district offering this free day in the parks,” said Rue Mapp, founder and CEO of Outdoor Afro.
“The park district is honored to commemorate Juneteenth with this day in nature to remember those who lost 2½ years of their freedom, by eliminating park entry fees so that all who choose to may participate by spending a day in the East Bay regional parks,” said Dee Rosario, the district’s president of its Board of Directors.
The Regional Parks Foundation, the district’s nonprofit partner, is also partnering with Outdoor Afro by providing free family memberships to eliminate barriers to those in need so that they can enjoy the full benefits of nature and their regional parks all year long. You can learn more about Juneteenth and Outdoor Afro at its website, OutdoorAfro.com/Juneteenth2021.
Ned MacKay writes about East Bay Regional Park District sites and activities. Email him at nedmackay@comcast.net.
