Unexampled Courage: The Blinding of Sgt. Isaac Woodard and the Awakening of President Harry S. Truman and Judge J. Waties Waring
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Book Overview
*The book that inspired the 2021 PBS American Experience documentary, The Blinding of Isaac Woodard.*
How the blinding of Sergeant Isaac Woodard changed the course of America's civil rights history.
On February 12, 1946, Sergeant Isaac Woodard, a returning, decorated African American veteran, was removed from a Greyhound bus in Batesburg, South Carolina, after he challenged the bus driver's disrespectful treatment of him. Woodard, in uniform, was arrested by the local police chief, Lynwood Shull, and beaten and blinded while in custody. President Harry Truman was outraged by the incident. He established the first presidential commission on civil rights and his Justice Department filed criminal charges against Shull. In July 1948, following his commission's recommendation, Truman ordered an end to segregation in the U.S. armed forces. An all-white South Carolina jury acquitted Shull, but the presiding judge, J. Waties Waring, was conscience-stricken by the failure of the court system to do justice by the soldier. Waring described the trial as his "baptism of fire," and began issuing major civil rights decisions from his Charleston courtroom, including his 1951 dissent in Briggs v. Elliott declaring public school segregation per se unconstitutional. Three years later, the Supreme Court adopted Waring's language and reasoning in Brown v. Board of Education.
Format:Hardcover
Language:English
ISBN:0374107890
ISBN13:9780374107895
Release Date:January 2019
Publisher:Sarah Crichton Books
Length:336 Pages
Weight:1.32 lbs.
Dimensions:1.3" x 6.3" x 9.0"
Customer Reviews
1 rating
WW II Black Vet in Uniform Beaten Blind by Carolina Cop Key Event in Truman And Federal Judge J W Wa
Published by Howard M Romaine, Esq. , 5 years ago
Last semester law students should read this book which shows deep horrid events leading to Truman's key decisions on desegregating military and US society!
Also deep impact on key federal judge leading up to ruling of Brown v Board case! Growth of Judge Waring and his tactical choices make for intense read.Summaries of lives of plaintiffs, the blinded soldier, lawyers for segregated South as well as NAACP challengers make this book a page turner as well as an intensely documented classic of legal literature. Howard Romaine, J D
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