Oscar Eason, Jr. (1930-2017) was a longtime civil-rights leader and community activist in Seattle, who broke down workplace barriers and fought for social justice. Eason moved to Seattle in 1958 from San Antonio, Texas, to work as a mechanical engineer at the Boeing Company, then in 1962 took a job working for the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers. Eason served in the Army during the Korean War, and again in Vietnam and the Gulf War with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Eason became involved in a number of community, state, and national civil rights organizations, serving as national president of Blacks in Government from 1994 to 1998, as president of Seattle King County NAACP from 1999 to 2002, as NAACP president of the Alaska, Oregon, Washington Conference, and as chair of the Washington state Commission on African American Affairs.

Here, Oscar Eason, Jr. speaks at an NAACP chapter meeting in Seattle.

Caption information source: Oscar Eason, Jr. obituary, Seattle Times, December 21, 2017.
Caption information also derived from captions written by Post-Intelligencer staff and attached to the back of the photograph.