■ ■

carter phillips. i'm the treasurer. the supreme court historical society. i actually stand in this room with some frequency, but i'm usually face in that direction, so it's a nice change of pace actually to be looking at. now there i am asked toemind everyone, please turn off all cell phones, tablets, silent mode, they can cause interferenceso i appreciate assn that. viously, we welcome you this evening. this particular heritage lecture ha long coming. we began in 1991 with justice kennedy talking about the court the privilege of doing it justice 50th anniversary on court.

and so it's sort of fitting it's nice to be back in the courtroom for the 70th anversof the court's landmark decision. and of course, this is a program th house historical association and the u.s. capital society. very our partnership and that endeavor. i'd like to express the society's gratitude this evenin justice ketanji brown jackson. this is privilege of having her participate with thee duty tonight. first, she'll be at home. she'lle participant. after judge gerge'll join him ia conversation and discuss brown versus board ofducation as i suspect you all know, this is a pretty busy time forjustices of. so we we thank her for many duties. and we're honored by her

cliche to say someone needs no irois absolutely true in this context. nonetheless, myoduce the introd. so i will fulfill my responsibilities. juste jackson was born in washington on september 1970. it's interesting that i at the saat that not the exact date, but the same day that the judge, constanwas born. most of you probably know about the judge. she was the first black woman to argue in the united states supreme court. first black federal district court. she argued ten cases in the supreme court and won nine of them. that is¥d come nowhere near. she played a significant role in the brown litigation with thurgood marshall. justice jackson grew up in public i'm sorry. she graduatedm dcliffe with a 'n

government and graduated from harvd's law school in 96. after law school, she had three clerkships that'sthe tradition in my day was to was pretty much everything but these justice stephen breyer here at the court in addition to her professional experience in private practice she had other forms of public service. she worked in the united states sentencing■ commission for three years as a federal public defender, three years here in d.c. she sentencing commission and ten she served on thefor the district of columbia from 2013 t20 president appointed her to the d.c. and 2021. she was there long enough to a e united states srt. and she was confirmed in 2022 and took the oath of office on june 30th, 2022. i aand atjustice jackson and tor

for being here this evening evening. thank you all that introductionndhe■■áób invitation to. be with you this evening. my colleue support the important work of the supreme court work the society is doing to preserhe coe constitution, and the federal, and to explore educational trsupreme court's history. it is a pleasure host this special society program this evening here at theourt tonight's lecture conversation, as you heard after the 70th anniversary of versus the board of e is quite

meaningfulor to icourtroom tont in the society's of brown. in a few moments have the privilege of hearing from judge richard gergel, whoin the same courthouse in south carolina where judge jay white's wearing served. and for much about, judge waring, you will learn tonight. judge richard gergel is a native of columbia south carolina, and the grandson of russian and polish jewish. he is a graduate of duke university and the duke university school ofaw. he practiced law in columbia, southspecializing in complex cil obama nominated as u.s. district judge. and he was confirmed by the

senate by a in august of 2010, shortly after his confirmation, judge gergel discovered that hisl grandparents had been sworn in as american citizens in the very courtroom to which was assigned a conducting naturalization cerems. in federl courthouse in charleston since and has handled a of significant cases, including017 trial of dylann roof who killed nine people attending a wednesdaybibn methodist church. dge gergel is the author of numerous and books with a particular on american legal here with us tonight, dr. belinda gergel, a retired historian. he is the author of enforced of the tree of life, a history of the early -- in of columbia,

south carolina. his most recent book from which tonight's talk drawn is an example of courage, the blinding of sergeant isaac woodard and the awakening of and judge whitw york times as riveting remarkabr a timely a monumental achievement the gurgles have two sons, both of whom are with us tonight. richie, who practices law in charleston, and joseph, who gradted yesterday from the fordham law school. i could■ go on, but i won't because like you i'm anxious to hear from my friends. so please join me in welcoming judge■n gergel.

k justice jackson for that kind introduction. and we we have been initially i had been confirmed. our relationship i have been confirmed about a year in ?wjustice jackson was on the sentencing commission nominee yet.the district court but n and we were at a sentencing commission conference an we had these wonderful conversations. and we have been friends and colleagues since. so we're so proud of her. and i'm truly honored to be here with in this event onnine, 1952. counsel, the naacp courtroom and commenced his the supreme court's longstanding precedent of plessy v ferso ove.

he was followed by john davis ae of the greatest day, who argued that plessythe two tt the crossroads of history with the outcome of this historic to defineha type nation america would be. the stakes were huge. would major portions america re rigidly segregated in which many citizens lived in a twilight world between slavery and or would this country up to its promise ofguaranteed by the amen ■btitution? many would assume that the case for this momentous argument between thurgood marshall and john davis was brown=z versus board of education. that assumption would berong.

the case argued that day continued into the next day. was elliott which involved a challenge to th systn county, south carolina. the briggs case would later be consolidated with three other dr the title brown versus board of education, thurgood marshall awaited argue the briggs case exclusive. lee in the first round of argumentss the most of the schol court's. the first case that was filed, the first case that where the groundbreaking evidence, dr. kenneth clarke's doll studies offered and the only case in which a dissent had been filed asserting that plessy that by united states district judge charleston, concluded that all government@ñl

protectiand was thus, per se, us may 17, 1954, waring's per say standard was centerpiece of what is now regarded as the most important case in history. it is thus altogetherthe seventf the brown decision, we turn our attention to the briggs case and judge waring remarkable dissent which helped this country untie the knot of jim crow. it should be noted,er, the forces which propelled the public school segregation issue nited states supreme court did not simply begin with the citizens petition, which made the simple request the black children of the clarendon school have access to a schoolit was instead a nowg

forgotten of racial violence and on a returning african-american and world war two veteran that series, events ultimately leading to the eventful day in december 1952, when thurgood marshall's stepped to the podium in this v ferguson should be ed as world war two came to an■■f, 900,000 african-americans, most from south, were discharged and rn communities. while african-americansegregated units of world war two, the defended america and liberty and freedom abroad. returning african-american veterans expected more respectful■kéereatntt home once they returned. instead, the oldes

disenfranchisement and jim crow segregation persisted and returning veterans who resisted acquiesce to these customs were ed as a threat to the racial status quo. the returningan veterans wanted their own new; the afterf february 12, 1946, sergeant isaac woodard, a battlefield decorated, boarded a greyhound bus in augusta, georgia. after discharge hours earlier from camp gordon and was traveling to columbia, south carolina and then on to his hometown, winnsboro, where he was to rendezvous with his wife. after sevel years separation occasioned by his war service, woodard struck an impressive figure in his dress uniform with sergeant stripes on his and battlefield decorations on his the frequent stops along the way, woodard approached thehi driver and asked if he could step off the bus the next stop to relieve

himself. at that time, interstate busses did not have,p restrooms, and greyhound drivers were instructed to accommodate such requests by their bus snapped at woodard. wait and ordered him to return to his bus. to the apparent the bus driver, woodard snapped back, telling the dve talking t. i am athe stunned bus driver tod woodard to go and burg, south carolina, the bus longer with s, departed his bus in police officer to have woodard removed from the bus and arrested. woodard soon found himself confronted by the burg, linwooo responded to woodard's effort to himself by striking him over the head with his blackjack and escortg woodd off to the

county jail. on way, woodard was repeatedly les blackjack ultimately driving the end of the baton into both of his eyes. the sergeant was thenwpcell the. when he arealized could not see. later that dayodtransported. the veterans hospital in columbiaherewa irreversible. he landed a count of the od■ ble reported in the black press and ceived nionwide attention. when orson welles focused on the innt ihidio program on abc radir four specific weeks mass, meetings were soon organized in black community across the nation for toelke to protest woodard toer black returning to their homes in, the rural south confronted other of racial violenceinclinspired murders.

no state, no state prosecuted involved in any of these incidents. on september 19, 1946, a xdelegation civil rights leaders met with president truman. wave of racial violence against black veterans. staff said that despite his civil leaders, there was little he could do as president to address these assaults. as the m■ting opened civil rights leaders urged truman to call congress back at a special session to address the spreading violence black veterans. the president expressed sympathy but lamented was little he could do because it wasnot public support for civil rights was. walter white, the executive cr naacp and one of truman's most loyal and promcivil community.

it was apparent, white, that the president did not appreciate the gravity of the. why the discussion? by sharing with truman in detail the blinding of isaac woodard as a tragic story. truman sat riveted and became visibly with the idea that a uniformed and had been so cruelly treated, abandoning the advice of his staff. truman said, my god, i had no idea it was as terrible as that. we got to do something. owing day, truman wrote his attorney, tom clark, and the blinding of isaac woodard, noting that the police sergeant's eyes. truman made clear that the time for action had now arrived three business. days after president truman's letter arrived at the department

of justice. the attorney general made the unprecedented announcement that the department of justice would prosecute bates byrd, police ch shull for the deprivation of the civil rights of i woodard during this era. a federal prosecutor have a whitpoviolating the civil righta black citizen in the south face daunting challenges. jury rosters drawn from voter d african-americans were almost entirely disenfranch■redd juries were generally hostile to any civil ritslocal prosecutorsg to do with civ rights cases. indeed, the decision by the justice chief a misdemeanor was it was doubted that his south carolina federal grand jury the announcement of the prosecution of the policeutcry l south carolina electedff argued

was meddling in a purelya.íl lol matter. the united states judge assigned the case j. wade ison charleston yen and his father his father was a confederate veteran. judge warelf initially skeptical of the federal prosecution. took stand and detailed his vicious beating at the hands of chief■hi0 shull, judge waring ka grave wrong had been done. he was equally aware. that is all white jury would not convict the obvious culpable officer. he right. deliberations commenced, the jury announced the acquittal. lynn would show and show supporters cheered few noticed that judge waring's elizabeth who hadl, left the bae courtroom in tears. judge waring joinehis wife later that evening, and both were by the trial over which he

had just presided. the show forced the judge and wife to stare directly into the raciald forever transform bf them wearing described the show trial as his personal baptism of fire. it is michigan born wife's baptism in racial prejudice. the waring's returned home to charleston. the show trial, which was held in columbia, resolved to learn more about the issues of race, which they had given, frankly, little trial. these were not subjectth among. white charles colonials of the day the waring'undertake their n self-directed study each evening after dinner elizabeth would read out loud a portion of a selected work to allow the judge to rest his eyes. after a day of handling■ dutiesn discuss what they hadcharles bla

favorite pastime among the books they read was the cutting edge work of the american dilemma by. gunnar myrdal, a brilliant. 1400 page study of race in america ■ndfoundation. which would later be cited footn versus board of education. once theg's read all 1400 pagesog back as judge waring's new views on çrace evolved. george elmer, a black filed suin columbia in 1947, challenging the south democratic party's all white primary. elmore was represented by thurgood marshall, the 39 year old chief who was already a reputation of a skilled,

strategist. south carolina's political were united in their determination to preserve the white notwithstanding clear u.s. supreme court all right, holding white primaries unconstitional. alwa'l say right. judge waring understood would that any decision rog using the right of minority citizens to would produce an intensely hostile anibviolent p. heassigned the case and told elizabeth up to. now we'privately but if i rule e plaintifoú■( in islives will nee cause says i'm with yo■u fr fin. waring concluded as he ler histr he retired that his choice was either, quote, to be entirely by

the doctrine of whiteo be a fed. decide the law.í 12, 1947, judgg issued decision in elmore versus carolina's primaryfe unconstitutional. waring ended his order by stating it is union and to adopt they of conducting elections. the groundbre decision was immey by the leadership of the acpn private note, the thurgood marshall williamasty, o would later be appointed the first black federal judge in american history, wrote. ur i read the south and i still don't believe it. in manre is your greatest legal achievement. not give.regio sooner new party rule adopted lo blacks vote in the

priority primary. support to racial segregation. no surprise a new laws thurgood marshall and judge hearing in his courtroom and all 93 members of the democratic executive committee be present. these were the political powers of south carolina. judge waring denounced their efforts to defy his earlier ■/lained that a federal judge faced with contempt or jail sentence. he one of those presen k violats again, thereouthink about that . thereafter african-americans by the thousands registered to vote in south carolina. the response of the whites of south carolina's supremacy was thunderous. death threats were constant across was burned

at the warg' bricks were thrown through the living room general. judge waring wasro hour u.s. marshals, security, timescribed. waring is the man they loved proving to be a person of color. if the purpose the unprecedented vilification waring was intended to cower work. instead, he continued hisjustice segregation in the supreme■6 court's 1896 decisionn plessy v ferguson was legally historic and morally wrong. after the suem ruled with the plaintiffs, nine zero in civil rightses issued in june 1951 involving a separate bu school,

that sweat versus school where n required to sit in a hall outside the classroom. that's md of regents. judge waring was convinced that the preme urt was ready to reverse plessy if a proper eg case could be placed on its docket. judge waring noted his own his trial docket in. charleston, a case. clarendon from clarendon county, south carolina. briggss= v elliott, which sought to equalize the facilities in the■,■ú district and white schos at the time, litigate aiding civil rights cases in the south was very toughg for the naacp lawyers, and they had a strategy using plessy as a sword. that segregation, but they were challenging lack of

equality. this was a highly successful legal strategy. they were winning their cases and■=x0 it a brilliant kind of strategy because it avoided challenging segregation. the original briggs but it had itsry time plessy was used to uphold the rights■- of african-american citizens, it in another way securing the inferior inferior legal status. the original briggs complaint not explicitly allege that segregated public schools were unconstitutional. was not an accident. they were notting that at the time when the plaintiffs attorney, thurgood marshall, appeared at november 17, 1954, a pretrialx■ conference on the friday before the trial was the beginning. monday, he was advised judge wanted to see him in chambbeinge judge's office without opposing present weari m try another

separate but equal case. bring me a frontal attack on segregation. marshall responded. it's just not tonight. we don't. this is the time. what he was really saying was,'. clair county, south carolina, if we do this. judge ng w unpersuaded telling marshall, this is the time. marshall urged judge to think ny decision by him overturning plessy would be reveed#ñcft on appeal by the fourth circuit, wearing that since they ■k■rchallenged the public schoo, contested constitutionality of the state law, he would request the appointment of a three judge pa any appeal would automatically go into docket of the united states supreme court. up to this point, the ucp's highly successful legal strategy had been carefully.

it was a cef another, never trying to get ahead of the supremcourt.the path waring wasg was a bold and unflinching on segregation route and branch. a few minutes after this dramatic encounter, waring conference in briggs and publicly pressed challenging constitutionality of publimarshs lawsuit and refile a file new briggs xgcomplaint as first frontal attack on public school in american history. the newly filed briggs was tried in theharlcourthouse. in may 1951 before a three judge pane w included waring and prior years the civil rights south were sparsely attended by members of the black they be identified as members of the

naacp. that would get you fired if you were a schoolteacher. or they were. they may be seen aal to the racial status. but on the morning of may8, 1951, as the sun in charleston, african americans lined up at the federal courthouse and down broad street. far as the eye could see, hoping to absorb what many th might be the most important case in history. as marshall entered the charleston federal that morning, he turnedster, bob carter, and , bob, it's all over. carter his youngest sister, was a bit mystified. wh mean. he said they're not scared anymore. nce in the courtroom not disappointed by thed his trial team. the trial included the social psychologist who had done groundbreaking on the effects of segregation on black children using black white dolls.

the crowd was also entertained by thurgood devastating cross-examination of the state's key witness, whose last name was crow. you can't make it up. okay. as judge waring anticipated, the majority of the panel ruled that south carolina's mandated mandating schools were lawful under the plessy doctrine. but judge waring fully aware he was writing a dissent for the ages, wrote a elegant and brilliant attack on the foundations of segregation in america. he quote, we must face without or equivocation the question as to wth segregate in education and our schools is legal. waring discussed in some detail regarding, his doll studies, which hed demonstrated that quote, the humiliation and disgrace of being setde

segregated is unfit to associate with others of differentor has a damaging effect. the mental processes of after carefully examining language of the equal protection t decisions of the supreme court, striking down segregad ols of higher, judge waring concluded segregation in education can never produce equality and it is anvil at be. segregation in education and te practice in the state of south carolina must. go and go now. segregation is per se. judge waring also noted his dissent. theion the briggs plaintiffs had as a result of their participation in the case, which included the loss of jobsthlluniform home loe failure of the local volunteer fire departmen respond to a fire that burned down the home of the joseph delaney.

judge waring state have an example of courage in bringing and prenting this cause in the face of a long e which state of south carolina has adopted ann since as a result of the institution ofo h slavery? where is the senatewas the firso government mandatedederal judgee harlan's historic dissent in earlier. in early briggs elliott dissent, judge announced his retirement as a federal and charleston. moved to new yorkit school cases from virginia annsall whid before the united states court

briggs under the name brown versus of education,i@ other school desegregation cases involving 14 different judges. only way to swearing concluded thatol segregation even if the facility were equal, dment of the united states constitution. on maycourt handed unanimously s f education. the court found that the public public school segregation, quote, generate a feeling inferiority in children and may affect their hearts andunlikelye undone. citing the doll stieclarke, they cast aside the separate but doctrine and adopted the per se rule that government mandated public■+■óchools was unconstitutional. firs■advanced by waring and, his briggs dissent on the night of the brown decision,

leadership of the naacp traveled to judge waring small east side apartment to toast man they viewed as the father of brown. judge waring met with chief justice warren shortly after the brown decision to express his admiration for the clearcut 'z■"i felt greatly relieved. when you decided the clarendon lonely up to that time. the chief justice responded that waring was the one to be admired because■p had to do it the hard way. judge waring was always full cae unpledged repercussions of his civil rht oral history late in , waring observed taking the whole thing in balance. i think i am enormously foate ■ the opportunity to do something. you really think is g think a gf fortune came down my alley. the other penalties don't amount to anything. they're offset by what i think is a really contribution to the

history of our country. thank you. it's like you. all me? wonderful. well, th wonderful, really informative. and we have a few follow up questions that will turn it turn it over to the audience. be fine. so you mentioned that judge alienated from the white political south particularly. how was received by other jud well, it's kind of interesting. cases. know theswh they went up on appeal and. the fothaffirmed. his two decisions. john jay parker had been

nominated to the court at one point in the late twenties and did t t nf received views on ra. herming where he was an admirer of white is■#6& wearing around the county was greatly admired and he knew the justices of this court very well. admired him. there was a session a point where he ce washington for a series of meetings. one was with chief justice letter later to thurgood marshall said, i have met the chief justice. he shares our views in that. interesting, because, you know, the ews that vinson was resistant. he also in same visit met president truman and their discussion began with truman story of the blinded sergeant?

and heat case. so i would say that i you know, one of the things judge waring went say he a national in the late forties. held would ask him fairly commonly that what got to you? you know, how did you change? and would say,■#ell, the bench i'd developed a passion for justice. that's a wonderful statement. but, you know, there were a lot of other southern federal judges who apparently did not develop at that time a passion for justice. and and so i think it wasn't wow him. it was really, you know, the fright. and and the three gtuttle and . that's really a little late time they get on the bench. they're eisenhower appointees. so at the time, he's out there by himself so i think the answer

was, you know, while wait ably e most reviled man, the white south he he had, at a minimum, the grudging respe o his and some an admiration. well, you talked a little bit about president and his knowledge of the isaac woodard story. your talks about how that president to make some changes. can you tell us about them? yes you know, it's it's that ■j session in september of 1946 where walter white shares with him the, blinding of isaac woodard. it captured imagination in a way no, these other incidents and there were other incidents in in this period some racially inspired murders that didn'tit him in a e would repeatedly tell the story of the blinding of isaac woodard

almost anyone who would listen to him. and he decided that same letter he writes, thesically, prosecute guy who blinded isaac wooda. he also says, we've got to do more t going to appoint the first presidential commission on civil rights. at commission, which was a landmark event in and of itself, within 11 months of their appo4ntment called to secure these rights and offered about ur o■0■, suggest of how to undo jim crow. ma o are the basically blueprint for the johnson administration. but th congress was not going to go along with any of it at time. but harry truman had one thing he could do. he could desegregating armed forces of the united states. and in july of 1948, heid just that in the middle of his

presidential campaign. and what is a■ remark double letter i found the truman library. a friend of his from missouri wrote him and said,il rights th. you're going to lose the election. o lose the south. truman wrote him back and he said tos, ernie, you don't know what i know. and he tells him the story of the blinding of isaac woodard. and he says, i lose this election over, this issue. it will have been for a good cause. and t desegregated the military over the brass. and when he left in early 1952,e 95% of american troops were inb4 desegregated units creating the first multiracial institution ine sort of the iro. here's this story.

a blind veteran that no one remembered who events of the early civil rights movement, the desegregation of the armed forces, and brown versus board. you tell me how you came this story. how did you do the mentioned ine truman library? yeah. well, first of all, as you remember this when you become a judge kind of lands on you, right? you you're like, oh, my god, if it's the real■,■r thing. and and and, you know, you're you're sort of sobered with the responsibility. and i wanted to know because, i have this love of history. i want to know the history of our court. and particularly i want to know about the most fascinating member of our way, just wearing and through all those discussions in the end there 've never been really good work. nobody really answered this wait, is where? what■ó motivated this dramatic

from being basically a mainstream democratic political to being aisionary. how did this happen? and as i looked into it, i found a letter he had written in 1945 described himself as a gradualist, which the courts r ■ altering in southern life. but he thought it was necessary for a gradual evolution of southern life, ten years from never okay. by 1947, he is threatening to jail white politicians for interfering with the rights of african-american to vote. so something happened in that two year period and■i did in the middle of it is the trial of one wh woodard. and so i started with the hypothesis t it and i'm sort of midway through my

research someone offered me a oral history of tape of an oral hiored ruby who was the matriarch, themmuni. and she was close with the warrens and so she was beingtalking about judge waring. and then listening to it with headphones on. and she says, now, you what whoa. here it comes, she says. was blinded -- sergeant. he called. he told me it was his baptism of fire. so there i had it. so. so, you know. so once i. so now i had thats story that, i believe, contributedhe brown decision. here it was, was this story of of this of of this blinded african american soldier. and then i asked, how did this case get prosecuted in 1946.

they weren't justice department was notte cops for black men. thatand i dug into the across tm harry truman to tom clark. and i realized harry truman had ordered it. that's how it. and so, you know, now i had this that the two major events and the early civilights mez+this f. nobody remembered ir act in a c. we're going to turn to t you one question about finding unusual ts. yes. how did you find out about the conversation between thurgood marshall and judge waring while i wasn't there? i'll. there was a gentleman by the name ofwas a

reporter, the pittsburgh courier. he president of the north carolina acp. he was a he was he was viewed as someone who always had a came neck. was he prided himself on on being a photographer, a photojournalist. but he covered the civil rights cases. he was aníraternity brher of and a very close friend. they actually sort of traveled together when. they would cover the trials and when marshall was was to waring's him and he walked to the door and, stayed out. and when he came out, marshall told him what happened late in life after justice marshall and the judge, a passed rivera said, i need to tell aec know story a. he twice oral histories for the historian dukh

carolina. anyo here, i have this parte communication.ry the most important case in history. and i was nervous aboutt. and i was, you know and i only had one source. and. i was at a meeting of judges. there was nathaniel whocarter a. he'd been on the sixth circuit andsel of the naacp a little bit later era. but was around and. our mutual friend michel charles said to me, go talk to nate. he might know something about judge i pulled him aside and i said, you know, i'm w wonderinge said. well, are you writing a biography of waring. i said, no, i'm writing very hit

it. and he said i said, but i'm have you ever heard about a conversation between white house waring. and thurgood marshall in his chambers? he said, y i ts&hat ter white, d marshall's boss told him the autobiography, i mentioned it, but i didn't want to d about. so, you know, i'm not writers.ne says it has this line. he says that it is long overlookedng inspired thurgood marshall to attack segregation rootnd branch. i called him i said nate is that what you're talking about? he says, you need toneed to tele story. so there i thought i had two sources in the wonderful two pretty good ones. so saw anyone fromhe audienc a

question. yes, ma'am. thank you very much both for your remarks. i'm curious, know, judge, if you perceive a difference in■4 how your book plays a role in the concept of justice,egard to rac? how thought about it before 2020 conversation about race and today? you know, i am i've got to say that i was sort of already there for ilack by 20 the book was out but it out in9.so you ke influence me? and actually it didn't. point. you know, one of the things that we've got to do this is the supreme court historical society is so important. we've got to remember our history. there's a lot of efforts to

muddle story. and i think telling the story in a candid way. you know, in the opening of my book, the first 40 or 50 pages are pretty tough. he blanding of isaac woodard. it's not a prettyit was importar people to appreciate the that ws not a benign thing. everybody was happy to go along with because underlyingt the threat and use of were necessary. and isaac wood as a threat to tl order. black vete as a threat who would not who came back. and they wanted a they wanted a better deal than they had had before. got to say that i think an important to do. and the george floyd episode brought maybe a younger generation knowledge of some of this history. t you police violence has been

an issue for night, yes. how did woodarest his life? yeah. well, you during these events arose isaac woodard became a very well-known figure. ■he gave talks around the country. there a benefit concert in new yorkhich3, basie, cab calloway, others was chairman of the committee. he was then thegning heavyweight champion of the world. but there was a very interesting memo i found in the acp papers. a staff member wrote walter white an said, you know, in ten years no one will remember his name. she's worried about him. what going to happen to him was

o was blinded, you know, black man had enough problems i was tough and he he he initially really struggled. the militartow that set though he was still wearing his whic■nh regot home. they said he wasblinded. he did not qualify fdisability. and i got toe acp. they persisted for years, urging to change it and he got saty benefits for benefits and back pay that tremendously changed his life in the he was working as as a blind man newspapers in lower manhattan we see blind do those social worker at theb9you know he wrotm

winter coat. well, after 1961, he's he he more economically stable. he he begins buying real estate. you kind of like that, mr. cou's leading real estate lawyers, even he he he begins becomes a landlord. i got to know nephew very well who was his caregiver who said he was the guy who collected rent. he was the he was he was his. he says uncle could make a nickel screen. supported two sons. hi parents. he felt very fulfilled, think. and in but in 1956, jet magazine ran, a story called america's most forgotten man, which was d.

tragedy.nd b he ar truman and judge waring. he never knew that s is proud of all of this. obviously they knew about joe louis and all that that part they were v remeg a limousine to, his house to pick him u know it really his courage of sort of standing up for himself had a transformative effect. american civil rights history. and he j yes. and in your book about your traveling, bates burg and meeting with local leaders, this is t&o where all of this happened and people had no idea they didn't and so what what would you say explainshe lack of recall? and have they done anything to cowell, there is an interesting

problem, amnesia relating civil rights, violence. there just is and bates burge was no exception. so go to bates berg. knew certain events took place and and iht i knew but like the bus stop wasn't reall they a building it was a place i wantema where the police car. it was sort of a detailed of t he's at it. so i called the town and i said, would you meet me there on a saturday morning? walk me through grown up there. help■z me with the logistics of all this. d with him is the mayor of. blacksburg, whe lacharlotte andd

sort of e response and, and so, you know, i'm go to where he got off the bus. we go beaten and store front and blinded. we go up the street to till the place the jail was where he was thrown in night and where the town court was where he was prosecuted the next day for drunk, disorderlystly and. the mayor i'm kind of keeping my home a man and he's becoming like increasingly>

to, make this right? ries of he and i and the town attorney about they could do and they did a couple of things. first, they went into court and for to be overturned of the blind o afy telling truth of, the blinding of isaac woodard by their poce. they held a sarah mony in/ which the city council, town council l hundred people from burg walked the from the bus stop arod corner to whe blie of. the jail, which cleared area, and they had erected the historic marker and they have

now announced that they are■ and they're going to title it the isaac woodard community park anw york times wrote an article about this was a who got it right who acknowledged their history. so it's a kind of wonderful story. in the inception, but redemptive in terms of the way i think we have time for one more question. sure. you said, um, it just happened right r d war two and i believe that it's■q now. jim crow. ow laws. that's correct. and i'm■fring was aware of that. europe influence him at all? he you kno the answer is he did know about the he did know

about the nazis and the death camps and actually, when he retired, he became a active member of the board of the conference of christians in new york. he was also on the board of the aclu, which is kind of interesting. so he that that there had an had fought for liberty and had fought for for the police and the whole sort of nazi regime. and, yes, i think it influenced own views on race andcan you all please join me in thinking, e presentation presentation.

so. so iyo i suggest you go right out and order book on ama an ea. it is fascinating. and that's just in return for the favor did earlier by the very very nice compliment you paid to the historical society appreciate that ve m that mind e enjoy the rest the evening. obviou thank justice jackson and judge gergel for being tonight. as i say, this book is is a fascinating read. and i thought i knew a fair s board of education and. i can tell you, i learned a lot about the details that are extreme really interesting. so i do commended to you. i also want to thank the sponsor our co-sponsors again the white houseistorical the u.s. capitol society specifically. we're joined tonight with by matthew costello and jane campbell. forward to the next program that we can put together

that. and now we have a reception. at hall, right outside these doors, and we will enjoy the rest of the evengand hopefully, if you e specific questions, you can raise them with the note are ad. thank you.

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