Cincinnati native Carl Tuggle died late last week, a month shy of turning 98, after spending nearly four decades in education. He was also a longtime activist, advocating for the men he believed were wrongfully convicted of munity after the 1944 explosion at Port Chicago Naval Magazine in northern California.
Tuggle was there himself and survived the explosion. More than 300 sailors and civilians did not. Nearly 400 others were injured.
“It lives with you, year after year,” Tuggle said of the blasts in a 1998 Los Angeles Times article.
Tuggle may have been the last surviving sailor from the 1944 incident.
"He was sort of that giant of a man who cared about everybody. And all he ever wanted was for America to right the wrong of the injustice that Black men endured at Port Chicago," Sandra Evers-Manly told The Enquirer. Evers-Manly, 64, started a Port Chicago survivors' group in Los Angeles in 1998 after hearing from her neighbor the hardships Black soldiers endured during World War II.
Tuggle was one of about 200 Black men who were ordered to continue loading munitions after the deadly explosion, even though white soldiers had been sent home. Tuggle knew some of the 50 men who were then tried, convicted and imprisoned on mutiny charges for refusing to work.
There were other injustices Tuggle noticed leading up to the explosion. The Navy was highly segregated when he was drafted, and Black men were resigned to menial jobs. They received hardly any training.
"We followed the procedures, we did not disobey or disregard any instruction they (the white officers) gave us, but they tried every way they possibly could to … gear you towards doing something wrong," Tuggle said in a 2006 interview with the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) issued a resolution in 2016 listing some of these grievances and demanding compensation for the remaining sailors and their descendants.
While some advocated for presidential pardons (and one of the men, Freddie Meeks, was granted such in 1999) Tuggle strove for exoneration for his fellow soldiers. Until he died, Tuggle was adamant that the Port Chicago 50 never did anything wrong and therefore didn't need pardons. He wrote letters and made calls to congressmen, presidents and the U.S. Navy asking them to recognize the discrimination Black soldiers faced during World War II and particularly in Port Chicago.
"All of the Black men who served in Port Chicago that I met and others, they served their country despite their country treating them different," Evers-Manly said. "They did not let the discrimination and being treated differently impact how they served their country, their families and their communities."
A life of service: Tuggle served CPS students for 36 years
Tuggle worked in education for 38 years, 36 of which he spent serving Cincinnati Public Schools.
He was a teacher, counselor, coach and administrator. He worked at several schools including Hughes STEM High School and Aiken High School - New Tech.
"It was rare that we went somewhere with my dad and someone didn't know who he was and stop him and say hello," Charlette Fuller, one of Tuggle's three daughters, told The Enquirer.
Tuggle excelled at connecting with Cincinnati students because he himself was a Cincinnati student at one time. He was born and raised in the city and grew up in the Over-the-Rhine and Mount Auburn neighborhoods. He went to Taft Elementary School and graduated from Woodward High School before joining the Navy.
He attended Wilberforce University, now known as Central State University, after serving in the Navy during World War II. He joined Kappa Alpha Psi, a historically African American fraternity, in 1948 when he was a junior in college.
Tuggle was a lifelong learner; he earned a master's degree in education from Columbia University in New York City and took several post-graduate classes at University of Cincinnati and Xavier University.
He served Cincinnati in myriad ways. Tuggle was active at Allen Temple A.M.E. Church where he participated in the men's choir and finance committee, chaired the church's anniversary celebrations and served on the trustee board for 25 years. After retiring from education, he volunteered for several years with Crayons to Computers, a local nonprofit dedicated to providing necessary educational tools to Cincinnati classrooms.
"He was quite a phenomenal person," Margaret Parker-Jett, a friend of the Tuggle family, told The Enquirer. She described Tuggle as a "handsome, gracious gentleman."
Funeral service for Carl Tuggle
Tuggle was married for 64 years to Elizabeth Jane Tuggle, his college sweetheart who also worked in education serving Cincinnati students for several years. She died in 2015.
Tuggle is survived by his three daughters: Blayre Rebecca Tuggle, Charlette DeShane (James) Fuller and Carlotta Elizabeth (dec. Fred) Jackson. He also is survived by three grandchildren and several nieces, nephews and cousins.
A visitation will be held Monday at 10 a.m. at Allen Temple A.M.E. Church, located at 7080 Reading Road, with a service to follow at 11:30 a.m. Further information about funeral arrangements can be found at Thompson, Hall and Jordan Funeral Home's website.
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