Joe Small

Joseph “Joe” Small is the central figure in the Port Chicago mutiny. A black American truck driver from New Jersey, Joe volunteers for service to defend America after Pearl Harbor. Unable to decide on joining the Army or the Navy, he is randomly assigned to the Navy. There, he is sent to training at Great Lakes, where he meets, befriends, and comes to serve alongside Percy Robinson, Robert Routh, and others at Port Chicago. Joe and the others are deeply disturbed by their service in Port Chicago, primarily because of the fact that they will be forced to serve ashore where they will load ammunition and explosives onto ships in unsafe conditions.

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...