As a young man doing his job as a pipefitter at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Jake Sloan didn’t realize that one day he would join the ranks of other men like him who would change history. But he did. He was the youngest member of the Original 21ers who, in 1961, filed a suit against the United States Government for discriminatory practices toward African Americans employed at the shipyard. Decades later, he penned a book, Standing Tall: Willie Long vs. US Government at Mare Island Shipyard, to ensure that the story and the impact of the action live on.
Making History as a Young Man
Sloan recounts how Long led a protest for economic and social justice at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California. “Willie served in the Navy during World War II and later worked in various shipyards around the country before winding up at Mare Island. Willie was a very conscientious person who believed in excellence in everything. He became an apprentice at Mare Island, graduated from the apprenticeship program around 1950, and grew to be an outstanding pipefitter – but could never get a promotion to supervisor,” explains Sloan. “And he wasn’t alone. John Edmondson had been there for thirty years and was considered to be the best pipefitter in the yard, but they couldn’t get promotions. Willie was a guy who wouldn’t accept that, and in 1960, he decided to organize.”
Influencing the Civil Rights Act
Long and the other Original 21ers tapped into the churning energy of the Civil Rights Movement. They were willing to risk everything to create change in the unequal labor practices at the shipyard. This small group of men took direct action against the U.S. Government by challenging the largest West Coast United States naval base to provide equal opportunities and wages, and won!
The action of the Original 21ers is believed to have been significant enough that they may have influenced the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which, in part, prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Their action became part of the cornerstone upon which our twenty-first-century economic justice movements are built.
“If you were an African American man at the time, it was probably the best job you could get in the trades. It was a good job, especially if you were a veteran as I was, because you had job security. You had benefits. But, if you were allowed to work in the building trades, you couldn’t get into the union outside of government work. It was virtually impossible,” says Sloan.
“I was a pipefitter (a plumber), and we installed all the pipes in the nuclear submarines. I worked mainly in the nuclear reactor. I looked around at guys that I respected who had been there for fifteen or twenty years and couldn’t get a promotion. And when we had the opportunity, under the leadership of Willie Long, to do something about it, I was ready.”
Pursuing Higher Ed
At the encouragement of his mentors, Long, Edmonson, and other 21ers, Sloan left the shipyard to pursue an education. He’d dropped out of high school in the tenth grade. Now, he holds an M.A. in History from San Francisco State University. While attending college, he worked primarily in programs directed at equal access and equality in training and pay for African Americans in the construction building trades of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Area.
“Being encouraged to go back to school changed my life fairly dramatically. Since then, I have always worked – either as an employee or in my own business – to change the complexion, so to speak, of the construction industry. I owe everything that I’ve been able to accomplish in life to those guys,” he adds.
Sloan has spent most of his adult life working in the areas of civil rights and affirmative action, advocating and fighting for opportunity and income equality for African Americans. Since 1985, that work was as an owner of Davillier-Sloan, Inc., one of California’s largest labor-management consulting firms, with a focus on the construction industry. Recently, he was recognized as a “Visionary for Diversity” by the Marcus Foster Education Institute in Oakland, California.
Telling Their Story
“It’s important for us to know that history, but the bottom line is, I believe, that we need to tell our story. That’s a story that should be known. If we don’t tell the stories, someone else will, and they won’t tell them from our perspective,” Jake Sloan concludes.
For more about Jake Sloan and the Original 21ers, visit this website.