Biography
Oscar Johnson was one of the 74 Industrial Workers of the World members held in the Snohomish County jail and charged with murder after the Everett Massacre. On November 5, 1916, some 300 Industrial Workers of the World members sailed from Seattle to Everett, Washington aboard the steamers Verona and Calista to support a shingle-weavers' strike and the IWW's free-speech fight. At the Everett dock, Snohomish County sheriff Donald McRae and a posse of armed vigilantes opened fire on the Verona, killing at least five Wobblies and wounding dozens. The returning IWW members were arrested, and 74 were charged with the murder of two deputies (Jefferson Beard and Charles Curtis) killed in the gunfire. Only Thomas H. Tracy was brought to trial; after his acquittal on May 5, 1917, the charges against the others were dropped. At the time of the massacre he was 24, a laborer, born in Sweden.
Chairman of the Alabama prison group Inmates For Action (IFA), repeatedly retried on charges arising from a January 1974 Atmore protest against beatings and segregation; The Black Panther Vol. 14 no.9 (1975) reports he sought to move his trial to federal court, arguing the state violated his rights by denying him William Kunstler as counsel. [Source: The Black Panther (Black Panther Party newspaper), v14 no.9; digitized at marxists.org — https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/black-panther/index.htm]
From Kenyon Zimmer's Red Scare Deportees index (kenyonzimmer.com, compiled from INS deportation case files): Joined the Industrial Workers of the World in 1916. He survived the Everett Massacre later that year and was arrested in connection with the incident, though charges were dropped in 1917. He was arrested again in Seattle on January 17, 1918. Immigration officials described him as “quite intelligent,” and “a very undesirable acquisition to the population of the United States.” Deported on November 30, 1918.
