The Blinding of Isaac Woodard
“The event that opened the eyes of a nation.”
Overview
In 1946, Isaac Woodard, a Black army sergeant on his way home to South Carolina after serving in WWII, was pulled from a bus for arguing with the driver. The local chief of police savagely beat him, leaving him unconscious and permanently blind. The shocking incident made national headlines and, when the police chief was acquitted by an all-white jury, the blatant injustice would change the course of American history. Based on Richard Gergel’s book Unexampled Courage, the film details how the crime led to the racial awakening of President Harry Truman, who desegregated federal offices and the military two years later. The event also ultimately set the stage for the Supreme Court’s landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, which finally outlawed segregation in public schools and jumpstarted the modern civil rights movement.
Trailer
Director
Jamila Ephron
Writers
Jamila Ephron, Mark Zwonitzer
Where to Watch
Stream
Rent
Buy
Cast
André Holland
Narrator (voice)
Leland Gantt
Isaac Woodward (voice)
Kenneth Mack
Self
Sherrilyn Ifill
Self
Rawn James
Self
Richard Gergel
Self
Belinda Gergel
Self
Robert Young Sr.
Self
Patricia Sullivan
Self
Laura Williams
Self
Details
Language
en
Status
Released
