Background
Born in west Texas, Law joined the US Army in 1919. He stayed on until 1925. He served as a private in the 24th infantry, an Afro-American outfit on the Mexican border. After leaving the army, he went to Bluffton, Indiana, where he worked in a cement plant. He moved on to Chicago, where he drove a taxi with the Yellow Cab Company. In the Great Depression he found work as a stevedore and joined the International Longshoreman's Association. He then tried his luck with a small restaurant, but failed and got a job with the Works Project Administration. Law was a member of the International Labor Defense and joined the Communist Party in 1932. In 1930 he was very active in the unemployment movement.
Law worked with Harry Haywood to organize mass protests against Italy's occupation of Ethiopia at the Second Italo-Abyssinian War. He was arrested speaking at a demonstration in Chicago on August 31, 1935.
Law was married to Corrine Lightfoot, sister of regional CP leader Claude Lightfoot.
Read more about this topic: Oliver Law
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