Description
This collection contains nine photographs, one flyer, and one magazine related to the detetion of a group of Indonesian seamen
in 1947. The images depict about 200-300 men at an immigration detetion center in downtown San Francisco, at the Southern
Pacific depot in San Francisco, and on a ship called the "Marine Lync" in San Francisco Bay. The photographs in this collection
have been digitized and are available online.
Background
The Indonesian National Revolution against Dutch colonial rule began on August 17, 1945 when the Proclamation of Indonesian
Independence was broadcast by radio throughout the country. In the following months, Indonesian seamen who were docked in
US ports began leaving Dutch and English ships, which they asserted were carrying weapons that would be used against their
countrymen. The striking seamen were supported by the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and a variety of other civil
rights and labor activists. When the shipping companies terminated the employment of the Indonesian seamen they were left
without valid visas. The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service detained these unemployed sailors and in June of 1946
the Justice Department began deportation proceedings against them. CIO Lawyers Harold Sawyer and Leo Gallagher argued that
the Indonesian seamen were entitled to political asylum and filed a petition of habeas corpus to halt their deportation. As
a result of this legal action the Indonesian seamen were removed from a ship waiting to return them to the Dutch East Indies
(as Indonesia was called at the time), and put on a train to the Justice Department camp in Crystal City, Texas. A federal
judge later ruled that the Indonesian seamen were prohibited by the alien exclusion act from remaining in the country. All
of their subsequent appeals were denied and on January 13, 1947 roughly 300 Indonesian seamen were deported from the United
States.
Restrictions
All requests for permission to publish or quote from items in the collection must be submitted in writing to the Director
of Archives and Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of
the physical materials and not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Availability
There are no access restrictions on this collection.