’Willing to Die Fighting for Our Rights:’ The Chronicle of the 34th Naval Construction Battalion

During World War II, the United States Navy permitted Blacks to serve outside of the messman branch, notably in the new Naval Construction Force, or Seabees. The 34th Naval Construction Battalion was the first Black Seabee unit and served twenty-one months in the Pacific. Discriminatory policies of the navy’s Bureau of Yards and Docks drove the Black Seabees to work with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Black press to seek redress. The battalion staged a hunger strike that brought the discrimination to the attention of the highest levels of navy leadership. Rather than disband the unit, the Navy implemented changes to address the issues.