Biography
J. A. Moreland was a Black Atlanta organizer and president of a local International Workers' Order branch. Police arrested him during October 14, 1934 raids on private homes. A Fulton County grand jury indicted him on October 23 for circulating insurrectionary literature under the Georgia statute used against Angelo Herndon. The prosecution relied on copies of the Labor Defender and International Workers' Order literature, and the court required $5,000 cash bail.
Daily Worker, October 25, 1934, page 2: The Atlanta report prints the local International Workers Order chairman’s name as James Moreland among eight Fulton County defendants indicted October 23 and held under $5,000 bail. The office, co-defendants and prosecution identify the existing J. A. Moreland record. The reported twenty-year potential punishment is not an imposed sentence.
