'We...Worried All Night as to Whether a Court Martial Awaited Us'
Mr.
Leslie
Cox,
Great Neck,
New York
On a Navy travel order, about 25 sailors were set to board a chartered train to leave Pensacola on an overnight trip to Jacksonville, Florida. The leader was a petty officer. The train consisted of an engine, Pullman car, and a coach car. There were four blacks in our contingent. As we prepared to board, the conductor stated that they should go in the coach, while the rest of us went in the Pullman car.
Immediately, someone asked why, and the conductor explained that this was a Florida railroad rule. Blacks were not allowed in Pullman cars. Our group caucused and decided we could not accept the rules. While the blacks were all mess help (among the only jobs for blacks at that time), they were shipmates and shouldn't have to sit up in a coach all night. The conductor said he would give them each a pillow. Again we said no, and agreed not to board the train unless the blacks got beds, too. While the blacks began to get nervous, the whites in our group all agreed to stand firm. This surprised me because a number of whites were Southerners.
By this time, the engineer was eager to be off and tooted the train whistle. Someone, probably the station manager, called the Shore Patrol (SPs), who arrived in a jeep with flashing red lights and a siren. The SPs threatened us with arrest if we did not board the train. A fair number of local rednecks gathered, and grumbling was heard. The officer of the day was called, and after some delay arrived in another jeep with lights and siren. He threatened us with possible court martial, explaining that the Navy had to conform to state railroad rules in the South.
The blacks in our group were decidedly nervous by this time, but we felt it was not right and again refused to board. At this point, the conductor reluctantly spoke up. He proposed to curtain off four bunks at the end of the Pullman car and let the blacks use them. Fine, we said, as long as they got beds like us, we didn't care about the curtains.
So it was done. We boarded, the train started, and most of us worried all night as to whether a court martial awaited us in Jacksonville. We never heard another word about this incident, so we assumed the Navy and everyone else decided to let it die.
