Liberty Ships, Closed Doors · Episode 12 of 13 · 41 min
Marinship: The Welder Who Sued His Own Union
In 1942 Bechtel raised the Marinship yard from a Sausalito mudflat, and some 20,000 workers built Liberty ships and tankers there in one of the war's most integrated workforces. Yet every worker had to join a union that put Black members in a segregated auxiliary. Welder Joseph James carried the fight to the California Supreme Court and won in 1944 in James v. Marinship.
Who's who
- Joseph JamesMarinship welder and NAACP leader who sued the union
- Thurgood Marshall+4 more episodesNAACP counsel who took part in the argument
- Phil S. GibsonChief Justice of the California Supreme Court
Where it happens
- Sausalito, California+3 more episodesSite of the Marinship shipyard
- Marin City, California+3 more episodesFederal war-housing town that outlived the yard
Timeline
- 1942Bechtel builds Marinship in months; Marin City housing developed
- 1943More than 200 Black workers refuse auxiliary dues and are fired
- 1944California Supreme Court rules in James v. Marinship
- 1945Marinship closes as the war ends
Still debated
The Boilermakers' union defended the auxiliary as including Black workers under its rules, which the court found discriminatory. 'Most integrated yard' is a reputation, not a metric, and the ruling bound California, not the nation.
Connected episodes in other series
The Warren Court: Judicial Activism From the Other DirectionThe Least Dangerous Branch? · Episode 9Also features Thurgood Marshall
The PaycheckWho Taught the Teachers · Episode 9Also features Thurgood Marshall
The Parish and the Poor RateThe Payor of Last Resort · Episode 2Also features Thurgood Marshall
Furman to GreggTo Die or Not to Die · Episode 6Also features Thurgood Marshall