Biography
Oscar McDowell was a Black worker active in the Scottsboro defense movement in Chattanooga. The August 28, 1931 Daily Worker reports his rearrest and a trial scheduled that day on shooting-with-intent-to-kill charges after a conflict with neighbor Rufus Ball. The newspaper describes McDowell defending Bessie Ball and his own mother from attacks by Ball, and characterizes the shooting as self-defense. The ILD supplied his initial $500 bail; the court subsequently set $2,000 bail. The report does not establish a conviction, exact arrest or release dates, or total confinement. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1931/v08-n207-NY-aug-28-1931-DW-LOC.pdf#page=1
