On February 12th 1946 an African American soldier, boarded a bus travelling from Georgia to North Carolina to go home. Like many other honorably discharged servicemen, Srgt. Isaac Woodard, Jr. wore his uniform. When the bus stopped in Batesburg, South Carolina, the local police forcibly removed Woodard from the bus. The police demanded to see his discharge papers and then took him to a nearby alley and beat him repeatedly. Following the beating, the police arrested him for disorderly conduct and took Woodard to the town jail where they continued to beat him throughout the night. When Woodard’s family located him three weeks later, they transferred him to a US Army hospital where the doctors examined him. They declared that repeated jabs to his eyes with a police baton had permanently blinded him.
In its aftermath, the NAACP publicize Woodard’s plight and pressured federal charges be brought against the police officers. However, after only 30 minutes, the South Carolina jury returned a verdict of not guilty. When President Harry Truman heard this story, he was outraged. One month later, in December 1946, he met with Black leaders and established the President’s Committee on Civil Rights to report on race relations in the United States by the end of 1947. The results showed deep levels of systemic racism, inequality, and violence that perpetuated throughout American political, economic, social, and cultural life. In response, Truman incorporated most of the commission’s recommendations into the first comprehensive civil rights bill sent to Congress since 1875. He also issued Executive Orders 9980 and 9981 integrating the federal government and banning discrimination in the US military. Though more limited in scope than subsequent presidents, Truman’s response to Woodard’s lynching initiated the federal government into protecting civil rights.
