Isaac Woodard, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Isaac Woodard

American victim of racial abuse

Date of Birth: 18-Mar-1919

Place of Birth: Fairfield County, South Carolina, United States

Date of Death: 23-Sep-1992

Profession: military personnel

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Pisces

Isaac Woodard Jr.
(March 18, 1919 – September 23, 1992) was a decorated African-American World War II veteran.
On February 12, 1946, hours after being honorably discharged from the United States Army, he was attacked while still in uniform by South Carolina police as he was taking a bus home.
The attack and his injuries sparked national outrage and galvanized the civil rights movement in the United States. The attack left Woodard completely and permanently blind.
Due to South Carolina's reluctance to pursue the case, President Harry S.
Truman ordered a federal investigation.
The sheriff, Lynwood Shull, was indicted and went to trial in federal court in South Carolina, where he was acquitted by an all-white jury. Such miscarriages of justice by state governments influenced a move towards civil rights initiatives at the federal level.
Truman subsequently established a national interracial commission, made a historic speech to the NAACP and the nation in June 1947 in which he described civil rights as a moral priority, submitted a civil rights bill to Congress in February 1948, and issued Executive Orders 9980 and 9981 on June 26, 1948, desegregating the armed forces and the federal government.