SINGER, SONGWRITER, ACTOR AND SOCIAL ACTIVIST HARRY BELAFONTE WAS IN THE NAVY DURING WWII

 Singer, songwriter, actor and social activist Harry Belafonte was in the Navy during WWII,

dropping out of high school in New York City to enlist and contribute to the war effort from 1944 to 1945.

At the time, the military services were segregated. Belafonte, a Jamaican American, was assigned to Port Chicago, CA, 35 miles from San Francisco. 

During WWII, Black service members were not normally assigned to frontline fighting units. Rather, they were assigned mostly to supporting specialties. His job was to load military ships bound for the Pacific theater. 

Just before Belafonte arrived in Port Chicago, CA, a massive explosion took place, involving military ships loaded with ammunition. About 320 people were killed — two-thirds of them Black sailors.

"It was the worst homefront disaster of World War II, but almost no one knows about it or what followed," he said.

After the tragedy, Black sailors refused to load ammunition under the same unsafe, segregated conditions that were said to have sparked the explosion. It became known as the Port Chicago mutiny. Fifty of the sailors were convicted of mutiny and sentenced to prison. Most were not released until months after the war ended.

"The Port Chicago mutiny was one of America's ugliest miscarriages of justice, the largest mass trial in naval history, and a national disgrace," Belafonte said. He credited television producer Ted Turner and his staff with having the courage to put the story on television.

Once he completed his service in 1945, Belafonte returned to NYC. He used his GI Bill benefits to pay for his classes at The New School Dramatic Workshop, alongside future actors Marlon Brando and Belafonte's lifelong friend Sidney Poitier.

His military service laid the foundation for his future endeavors as a civil rights advocate, using his platform to challenge societal norms and fight against racial injustice. 

Harry Belafonte died on April 25, 2023, at the age of 96.

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