What were the type of jobs assigned to black servicemen in the Navy at this time? How did Joe Small and Thurgood Marshall react to learning about these injustices?

Blacks were given the task of loading ammunition, explosives, and bombs onto Naval ships during most of World War II. Joe Small and the other men at Port Chicago were less concerned with this than they were concerned by the alarming safety conditions – or lack thereof – at the Port.

Following the Port Chicago disaster, Joe and the survivors are transferred to Mare Island Naval Shipyard, where Joe and the others refuse to obey the singular order of loading ammunition under the same kinds of conditions. For this, they are arrested, tried, convicted of mutiny, and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. Their sentences are commuted, however, and Joe and the others are sent to sea to serve as Navy policies about black service change. After his service ends, Joe returns to New Jersey where he gets into construction, and ensures he hires both black and white men to work for him. Joe Small never comes to regret his decision to make a stand at Mare Island, and remains proud of it until he dies.

Thurgood Marshall, lead attorney for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), meanwhile sought to tackle abuses suffered by black servicemen. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Marshall worked while on the move through the country, having had a long personal struggle against racism himself. He knew racism and segregation were both immoral and illegal under the Constitution, and worked 16-hour days. Every day brought something different – from wrongful arrests to challenging local unconstitutional laws. Usually, Marshall lost his cases, owing to racism, segregation, and existing policy.