The Isaac Woodard Story

Isaac Woodard

I believe in peaceful dialog instead of fighting and yelling.  I want to see progress towards a peaceful settlement.  I can’t always have what I want but this is what I prefer.  People sacrifice their lives for a cause because it something they believe in.  They expect certain consequences and in the process will always be remembered.  Some innocent people have given up their lives due to other people bizarre behavior.  They happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  All of us can vouch for this.  We might not have been through some extreme circumstances but we have witnessed those unforgettable occasions.  Then, there are some innocent people who simply mind their own business and become victims of another person’s hostility.  I don’t want those innocent people to be forgotten.  Isaac Woodard lost his eyesight because of racial hatred.  I can't seem to find more information on Sheriff Shull. Despite the differences that our skin complexions are different, the major barriers between the races are what we believe and think.

In February, 1946, a black soldier named Isaac Woodard, was on his way home to South Carolina.  He had just been discharged out of the Army. At a stop along the way, Woodard had a verbal altercation with the driver over permission to use the restroom.  After using the restroom, he returned to his seat without incident. At Batesburg, the next stop, the diver contacted Sheriff Linwood Shull, who forcibly removed Woodard from the bus.  After demanding to see his discharge papers, a group of officers took Woodard, still in uniform, to a nearby alleyway and beat him with nightsticks. He was then taken to jail and arrested for disorderly conduct.  Overnight, more beatings and jabs in the face with a nightstick resulted in both of Woodard’s eyes being ruptured, and the onset of partial amnesia.  The next day, Woodard was brought before a local judge, found guilty and fined fifty dollars. Not knowing where he was and still suffering from amnesia, Woodard ended up in a nearby hospital receiving substandard care.  It took his family ten days to find him.  The story eventually reached the ears of President Truman, who angrily demanded that the Attorney General take action.  The resulting trial of Sheriff Shull, who admitted he had blinded Woodard, was a shameful failure, resulting in the courtroom breaking into applause when Shull was acquitted after 30 minutes of deliberation. The Blinding of Isaac Woodard – Woody Guthrie.  Isaac Woodard was born March 18, 1919, in Fairfield County, South Carolina.  He died September 23, 1992, in the Bronx, New York.  

Here is a link to Isaac Woodard in his own words.

Prior to this event, another horrible incident took place. On July 16, 1943, an African American soldier was on his way home to LaGrange, Georgia to visit his wife and infant. He was traveling by bus from Charleston, South Carolina which made a stop in Augusta, Georgia. He got off to stretch his legs and as soon as he took his seat again the driver told him to get off without giving him an explanation. The soldier proceeded to the driver what the problem was and the driver replied by telling him “for blowing your top you will be leaving on the next bus at one-fifteen in the morning.” At that point two military policemen walked up and he asked one why he could not ride on that particular bus. One responded in a nice manner and the other insultingly. The officer who responded rudely replied to his comrade, “you let a nigger talk to you like that,” and told the soldier if he didn’t like the way things were then, he would send him back to Charleston and he ought to arrest him.

The postwar era was characterized by a total lack of response to the needs of Black Americans from the legislative branch of government. President Truman, however, was angry over the treatment of black Americans, particularly war veterans, and although his commitment to civil rights was tempered somewhat by political necessity, several milestones were achieved during his administration.  On December 5, 1946, Truman established by executive order the President’s Committee on Civil Rights. The committee was instructed to investigate the status of civil rights in the United States and propose measures to strengthen and protect the civil rights of American citizens. Truman became the first president to address the NAACP, at the Lincoln Memorial on July 29, 1947.  On July 26, 1948, President Truman issued ExecutiveOrder 9981, banning segregation of the armed forces.  Senior military officials protested but the Korean War prompted the integration of combat units, without the predicted loss of combat effectiveness.

Here are some links to the newspapers at the time.  Each newspaper has its own spin.

http://faculty.uscupstate.edu/amyers/lighthouse.html Local Black Newspaper

http://faculty.uscupstate.edu/amyers/recordnov.html Local White Newspaper

  

If you are interested in reading more about Black Americans in the Military, read Strength for the Fight: A History of Black Americans in the Military by Bernard C. Nalty.  Brothers in Arms: The Epic Story Of The 761st Tank Battalion, WWII’s Forgotten Heroes by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anthony Walton.

 Sources:   History Engine – Tools for Collaborative Education and Research

                 Civil Rights in The Postwar Era: 1946-1953