On this day in 1946, Isaac Woodard, WWII veteran, hours after being honorably discharged, was attacked by South Carolina police while still in uniform when taking the bus home & left permanently BLIND
The officers were acquitted by an all white jury #BlackHistoryMonth
A THREAD!
The officers were acquitted by an all white jury #BlackHistoryMonth
A THREAD!
Isaac enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1942 at Fort Jackson in Columbia, S.C, and served in the Pacific Theater as a longshoreman in a labor battalion. In February 1946, the decorated soldier received an honorable discharge at Camp Gordon, which is located near Augusta, Georgia.
Along with other discharged soldiers, Woodard boarded a Greyhound bus on February 12 to travel home. A conflict was triggered when the white bus driver belittled the army veteran for asking to take a bathroom break.
At the next stop, Woodard was met by the Chief Linwood Shull of the Batesburg, South Carolina police. While still in his army uniform, the police forcibly removed him from the bus and arrested him for disorderly conduct.
They beat Woodward, and the next day he was convicted of 'drunken and disorderly conduct' and fined $50. They also refused to take him to hospital after beating him for several days. The beatings that he suffered while in police custody caused him Permanent Blindness.
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