Standing Tall: The Story of The Mare Island 21ers
About this Event
Standing Tall: The Black Shipyard Workers Who Took on the U.S. Navy
Date/Time: Friday, November 20, 2026, 6-8 p.m. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.
On November 17, 1961, twenty-one Black workers at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard did something few people dared. They filed a formal complaint of racial discrimination against the United States government.
They were pipefitters, mechanics, welders, painters, and laborers who had endured years of unequal treatment in hiring, training, promotions, and pay. They filed their complaint before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission existed.
They put their jobs on the line anyway. Represented by attorney Charles Wilson, they pressed their case against the federal government at a time when few would, and their stand helped build the pressure that changed federal employment law.
Sixty-five years later, the Vallejo Naval & Historical Museum marks the anniversary with an evening of living history, right here in the city where it happened.
Opening Remarks
Scott Stick, Audio Visual Archivist for the Vallejo Naval & Historical Museum, will open the evening.
Moderator
Brendan Riley, Vallejo historian and longtime Associated Press reporter.
Panelists
Jake Sloan, the youngest of the Original 21ers and author of Standing Tall: Willie Long
vs. U.S. Government at Mare Island Naval Shipyard.
Pastor Anthony Gilmore, who took the initiative to talk with his uncle, Original 21er
Clarence Williams, then brought that story to Matthias Gafni at the Vallejo Times-Herald.
Matthias Gafni, now a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, wrote a detailed three-part series on the 21ers while at the Vallejo Times-Herald.
Sharon McGriff-Payne, a local historian who will speak to the early African American experience in Solano County, leading up to and including Mare Island Naval Shipyard.
Together, they'll trace how a story nearly lost to history was passed from one generation to the next, from a nephews conversation with his uncle, one of the original 21, to the pages of a local newspaper, to a book written by a man who was there.
Schedule
5:30 PM: Doors open
6:00 PM: Panel discussion
7:30 PM: Q&A and book signing
Location
Vallejo Naval & Historical Museum
734 Marin Street, Vallejo, CA
Admission: Free / Suggested donation of $25 per person
Seating is limited, so please RSVP to reserve your spot.
Copies of Standing Tall will be available for purchase
Questions? Email [email protected] or call 707-643-0077.
The Vallejo Museum is your museum!
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
USD 0.00
