Backdrop image for movie The Blinding of Isaac Woodard

The Blinding of Isaac Woodard (2021)

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.

  • Documentary

Top billed cast

  • Photo of André HollandAndré HollandNarrator (voice)
  • Photo of Leland GanttLeland GanttIsaac Woodward (voice)
  • Photo of Kenneth MackKenneth MackSelf
  • Photo of Sherrilyn IfillSherrilyn IfillSelf
  • Photo of Rawn JamesRawn JamesSelf
  • Photo of Richard GergelRichard GergelSelf
  • Photo of Belinda GergelBelinda GergelSelf
  • Photo of Robert Young Sr.Robert Young Sr.Self
  • Photo of Patricia SullivanPatricia SullivanSelf
  • Photo of Laura WilliamsLaura WilliamsSelf

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