In August 1944, 50 African American sailors at Mare Island Navy Yard courageously refused to work under unsafe and dangerous conditions loading munitions after surviving the deadly July 17, 1944, explosion at Port Chicago that killed 332 service members. Following the explosion, the men were transferred to segregated Navy barracks on the Vallejo side of Mare Island Strait, near this site. Their courage in the face of insurmountable odds would later help lead to the desegregation of the United States military.