Isaac Woodard
Isaac Woodard
Honorably discharged Army Sergeant Isaac Woodard returned to the United States after fighting abroad in World War II, traveling via bus on February 12, 1946, to his home in Winnsboro, South Carolina. The 26-year-old Black man asked the bus driver if he could pull over at a rest stop to use the bathroom. The driver refused and ordered Woodard to disembark at the next stop in Batesburg, South Carolina, where police arrested Woodard. Woodard was blinded by police chief Lynwood Shull, who beat him in the eyes with a billy club. Shull was acquitted in November 1946 by an all-white jury tasked with determining whether he used excessive force. The incident of police brutality became a tipping point in the civil rights movement. Woodard told supporters at an August 1946 benefit concert, “If the loss of my sight made people in America get together to prevent what happened to me from ever happening again to any other person, I would be glad.”
“People should learn how to live with one another and how to treat one another. Because after all, we all are human beings, regardless of color.” - Isaac Woodard