Biography
John Boyd was one of four Black Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees at the Cohasset camp near Chico, California, arrested in May 1935 after Black enrollees defended themselves against an attack by white camp members armed with bricks and clubs. Augustus Swift, Cornelius Smith and Donald Johnson were arrested with him. Prosecutors charged them with assault with a deadly weapon. International Labor Defense attorney Leo Gallagher represented the four at their first hearing, and protests helped secure dismissal of that charge. They subsequently pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace and received suspended sentences.
