Celebrated Local Author Steve Sheinkin Discusses Writing of WWII Civil Rights Story

October 28, 2015

Steve Sheinkin, award-winning local author of several non-fiction books on American history, will give a talk on his book, "The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny and the Fight for Civil Rights," in Hudson Valley Community College's BTC Auditorium, Monday, Nov. 2 at 1 p.m. The public is invited free of charge.

The book is a National Book Award Finalist and a Newbery Honor Winner. Other notable books by Sheinkin include "The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism and Treachery," "King George: What Was His Problem? The Whole Hilarious Story of the American Revolution" and "Lincoln's Grave Robbers."

"The Port Chicago 50" is the story of World War II African American sailors—many of them still teenagers—who were assigned to load ammunition at Port Chicago, a segregated naval base in California. The sailors never received training to handle ammunition safely and were constantly being rushed by their officers. A terrifying disaster rocked the base and forced the men into the toughest decision of their lives: return to duty as ordered or risk everything to take a stand against segregation in the military?

Sheinkin's talk is the final presentation in the lecture and film screening series, Created Equal: America's Civil Rights Struggle, hosted by the college's Dwight Marvin Library. Based on the highly acclaimed documentary, Freedom Riders, the Created Equal series featured talks by leading civil rights scholars on civil rights and racism in America today and on the history of our nation's civil rights movement.

For more information about Sheinkin, visit his website.

Created Equal: America's Civil Rights Struggle is made possible through a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, as part of its Bridging Cultures initiative, in partnership with The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.