Movie Description
The Blinding of Isaac Woodard
(2021)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.
Featured Crew
- Director : Jamila Ephron
- Producer : Jamila Ephron
- Writer : Jamila Ephron,Mark Zwonitzer
- Editor : Nancy Novack
- Cast : André Holland,Leland Gantt,Kenneth Mack,Sherrilyn Ifill,Rawn James,Richard Gergel,Belinda Gergel,Robert Young Sr.,Patricia Sullivan,Laura Williams,Gilbert King,Kari Frederickson,J. A. De Laine Jr.,Nathanial Briggs,Harry S. Truman,Orson Welles,Isaac Woodard
Cast
Narrator (voice)
Isaac Woodward (voice)
Self
Self
Self
Self
Self
Self
Self
Self
Self
Self
Self
Self
Self (archive footage)
Self (archive footage)
Self (archive footage)
Posters
Facts
Original TitleThe Blinding of Isaac Woodard
Status Released
Release Information
-
2021-03-30
Original LanguageEnglish
Runtime 01h 52m
Homepagehttps://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/blinding-isaac-woodard/
Production CompaniesArk Media,GBH
Genres
- Documentary
