Marin City and Individual persistence and

but also a famous performer who had been in several operas and plays back East. When he got the call to work, like many people, [he was] patriotic, so he came out here. He was the instrumental person who led the fight so that the Blacks did not have to be in a separate union, and it [eventually] became a California Supreme Court case.”

Joseph James v. Marinship encapsulated the nationwide equity issues of its era, although the case is seldom discussed in the rest of the county today. History and ethnic studies teacher David Minhondo was especially captivated by the case’s significance in American history, but also disappointed in how little recognition it has received.

“The fact that this one former Broadway worker moved [to Marin City] in the Second Great Migration [and] led this landmark California Supreme Court case [is incredible],” Minhondo said.

“But then to find that it was also led by the famous lawyer, Thurgood Marshall, was like unraveling this thread that I thought

By Gemma Favaloro

of Marinship’s workforce consisted of minorities.

Marinship was incredibly successful in its operations: over the course of the shipyard’s three-and-a-half years effort around 93 vessels were built. After World War II ended, Marinship was decommissioned in May of 1946.

Redevelopment

“When Marinship was over, Marin City was slated to be torn down, so a group of residents got together to try to organize the redevelopment of Marin City,” Hodges said.

In conjunction with county supervisors and, eventually, a redevelopment agency that was granted by officials in Washington D.C., Marin City residents fought to save the community and continue their wartime economic prosperity.

Yet, the county was slow to update the city. In tandem with poor redevelopment efforts, Marin City also faced a new, postwar reality.

“Marin City was integrated when I grew up, but by the time I got back from college, it was [around] 70 percent Black because whites were able to move out of the community and purchase homes in various places in Marin County, and Blacks weren’t,” Hodges said.

Bettie Hodges, lifelong Marin City resident