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

that we put wite house historical association and the u.s. capital society. and we apprecciate very our partnership and that endeavor. i'd like to express the society's gratitude this evening to justice ketanji brown jackson. this is t f privilege of having her participate with the society and she's doing double duty tonight. first, she'll be at home. she'll ba participant. after judge gergelshe'll join ha conversation and discuss brown versus board of education as i suspect you all know, this is a justices of the court. so we we thank her for her many duties. and we're honored by her cliche to say someone needs no introduion, but it is absolutely true in this context. nonetheless, myintroduce the in. so i will fulfill my responsibilities. juwashington on september

1970. it's interesting that i at the same date that not the exact date, but the same day that the judge, caner, was born. most of you probably know about the judge. she was the first black woman ts supreme court. first black federal district court. she argued ten cases in the supreme court and won nine of them. that is a record come nowhere near. she played a significant role in the brown litigation with thurgood marshall. justice jackson grew up in mi public i'm sorry. she graduated from harvd. 's in government and graduated from harvard'l in 96. after law school, she had three clerkships that'some the tradition in my day was to was pretty much everything but these

justice stephen breyer here cprofessional expen private practice she had workeds sentencingssion for three years as a federal public defender, three years here in d.c. she rne sentencing commission and ten she served on theurt for the district of columbia from 2013 to 2021 a president appointed her to the d.c. and 2021. she was there long enough to a e united statesupreme court. and she was confirmed in 2022 and took the oath of office on june 30th, 2022. i am and gratefulo presentjustir for being here this evening evening. thank you all that

introduction and you for the invitation to. be with you this evening. my colleags support the important work of the supreme court society d work the society is doing to preserve the hiy court, the constitution, and the federal, and to explore educational ou■ftreacho supreme court's his. it is a pleasure host this special society program this evening here at the court tonight's lecture conversation, as you heardys after the 70th anniversary of versus the board of education. is quite meaningful forcourtroom tonightt in the brown. in a few moments 'll have the privilege of hearing from judge

richard gergel, whoded in 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 columbia south cad the jewish. he is a the duke university school of law. he practiced law in columbia, southspecializing in complex cil obama nominated as u.s. district confirmed by the senate by a unanimous consent in august of 2010,■n shortly after his confirmation, judge gergel discovered that his■ernal grandparents had been sworn in

as american citenurtroom to whid ale conducting naturalization ceremonies. he has presided in federal courthouse in charleston since and has handled a of significant cases, includinghe 2017 trial of dylann roof who killed nine people attending a wednesday bible study at emanuel african methodist church. judge gergel is the author of numerous and books with a particular on american legal history with his here with us tonight, dr. belinda gergel, a retired historian. he is the author of enforced 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 ofuman and judge w york times as riveting dremarkar y s as a timely a monumental achievement. gurglesh of whom are with us tonight. richie, who practices law in charleston, and joseph, who graduated yesterday from the fordham law school. i couldon, but i won't because like you i'm anxious to join me in welcoming judgethank justice jackson for t kind introduction. and we we have i had been confirmed. we were sort of our relationship i have been

confirmed about a year in sentencing commission nominee for the district court but not yet. and we were at a sentencing commission conference and 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. thurgood marshall, the legendary chief counsel, the naacpte courm and commenced his the supreme court's longstanding precedent of plessy v fergun ov. he was followed by john davis hi a living legend is one of the greatest day, who argued that plessythe two tt the crossroads of history with

the outcome of this historic to define what type nation america would be. the stakes were huge. would major portions america rema 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 assume that the case for this momentous argument between thurgood marshall and john davis was brown board of education. that assumption would be wro. the case argued that day continued into the next day. was briggs versus elliott which involved a challenge to the system of clarendon county, south carolina. the briggs case would later be consolidated with three other hool desegregation cases under

the title brown versus board of education, thurgood marshall awaited argue the briggs case exclusive. lee in the first round of was the most of the school court's. the first case that wast case te groundbreaking 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 mandated public school segregation violated the equal protecti, tkthe thand was thus,. when the supreme court, its unanimous decision inro may 17, 1954, waring's per say standard was centerpiece of what is now regarded as the most

important caseit is thus altogei that in this program, honoring the seventh 70th anniversary of the brownattention to the briggd judge waring remarkable dissent which helped this country untie crow. it should be noted,■sowever, the forces which propelled the public school segregation issue he united states supreme court did not simply begin with the f 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 would set off a cascading■ series, events ultimately leading to the eventful ithurgod

marshall's stepped to the podium in thisessy v ferguson should be turned as world war two came to an end, 900,000 african-americans, most from south, were discharged and returnedunities. while african-americans serdin d units of world war two, the military otraining and advancemr having served their country and defended america and liberty and freedombrveterans expected more respectful treatmentt returned. instead, the oldctices disenfranchisement and jim crow segregation persisted and g veterans who resisted acquiesce to these customs were viewed as a threat to the racial status quo. the returningfrican veterans wanted their own new the afternf february 12, 1946, sergeant

decorated, boarded ar discharger 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 several9l years separation occasioned by his war service, woodard impressive figure in his dress uniform with sergeant stripes on battlefield decorations on his chest. during of the frequent stops along the way, woodard approached the white busstep off the bus the next stop to relieve himself. at that time, interstate busses did not havems, and greyhound drivers were instructed to accommodate such requests by their passengers. instead, the bus snapped at woodard. ■.cyi ain' wait and ordered him to return to his bus. to the apparent astonishment,

the bus driver, woodard snapped back, telling the driver, talk talking to you. the stunned bus driver told woodard to go and burg, south carolina, the bus driver now no, departed his bus in search of a police officer to have woodard removed from the bus and on found himself confronted by the police cef of bates burg, linwood shaw, who responded to woodard's effort to himself by striking him over the head with his blackjack and escorting woodard off to the county jail. on way, woodard was repeatedly beaten with charles blackjack ultimately driving the end of eyes. the sergeant was then thrown a semi-conscious state into a jail cell the night. when he awoke next morng, he realized could not see.

later that day, woodard was transported. the veterans hospital in columbia where he was rm irreve. he landed a count of the woodare reported in the black press and receivedationwid attention. when orson welles focused on the incident in his lyradio programr mass, meetings were soon organized in black community across the nation for toelke to protest woodard to

staff said that despite his civil leaders, there was address these assaults. as the mti truman to call congress back at a special violence black veterans. the president expressed sympathy but lamented was little he could do because it wasply not public support for civil rights legislation. leading the group was. walter white, the executive seet naacp and one of truman's most loyal and incivil community. it was apparent,te, 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. following day, truman wrote his attorney, tom clark, and shared him the story of the blinding of isaac woodard, noting that the police the sergeant's eyes. truman made clear that the time for action had nowqk arrived the 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 chief lynwood shull for the deprivation of the civil rights of isaac woodard during this era. a federal prosecutor have a white police officer for violating the civil rights of a black citizen in the south face

daunting challenges. jury rosters drawn from voter -americans were almost entirely disenfranchized. white juries and grand juries were generally hostile to any civil rights claims anlocalg to do with civil rights caindeee justice department to chae chis itascarolina federal grand jury would return an. the announcement of the prosecution of the police chief local south carolina elected officials o attacked what they argued was meddling in a purely■e unitd the case j. wade isration charleston yen and hisconfederate veteran. judge waring was himself initially skeptical of the federal prosecution. but when the blinded serge

took stand and detailed his vicious beating at the hands of chief■r shull, judge waring knea 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 a show and show supporters cheered his acqu few noticed that judge waring's elizabeth who had atttrial, lefe courtroom in tears. judge waring joined his wife later that evening, and both were by the trial over which he had just presided. the show forced the judge and his wife to stare directly into the racialwould forever transfof them 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, t which they had given, frankly, little trial. these were not subjects that am. white charles colonials of the day the waring's decided tounden 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 handlingcial dutn discuss what they had read. often, while driving around, charles bland in the evening, a they read was the cutting edge work of the american dilemma by. gunnar myrdal, a brilliant. 1400 page study of race in america funded by the carnfound. which would later be citedn foon

versus board of education. once thearing's read all 1400 pages togethe back as judge wa's new views on race injevolved. george elmer, a black filed suit inhe federal district court in columbia in 1947, challenging the south democratic party's all white primary. elmore was represented by thurgood marshall, the 39 year old chiefp, who was already a reputation of almost proportions as a skilled, led, litigator and legal strategist. south carolina's determination o preserve the whitery, notwithstanding clear u.s. supreme court all right, holding white primaries unconstitutional. always to which i'll say right. judge waring understood would

to would produce ancognize intensely hostile and possibly violent public reaction. assigned the case and toldwas elizabeth up to. now we've bn privately but if ie plaintiffs in this clives will . elizab n convert to the cause says i'm with you om fini. waring concluded as he later shared with an a historian after he retired that his entirely by the doctrine of white supreor t. decide the law. on 12, 1947, judge waring issued decision in elmore versus carolina's primary his order by stating it is time for south carolina to rejoin the union and

to adopt the an way of conducting elections. the groundbreakg more decision y by the leadership of the acp in a private note, the thurgood marshall william haswhlater be e first black federal judge in american history, wrote. thgo i read the south carolina decision three times still don't believe it. in many respects, i thinis is your greatest legal achievement. but the seeg not give. sooner new party rule adopted allowing blacks vote in the priority primary. so long as they pledged their support to racial segregation. no surprise a new lawsui thurgood marshall and judge waring then summoned an emergency hearing in his courtroom■úers of the democratic executive

he political powers of south carolina. judge waring denounced their efforts to defy his earlier explained that a federal judge faced with contempt or jail sentence. he one of those present to knows again, there would be noes.e think about that one. 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 threatsl were constant across was burned at the waring's residence and bricks were thrown through the living room■' window on the ordr of the attorney general. judge waring was provide24 hour u.s. marshals, security, timee described. waring is the man they loved hate but also notedv■a proving to be a person of color.

if therecedented vilification waring was intended to cower work. instead, he continued hisjustice segregation in the supreme ferguson was legally historic and morally wrong. after the supreme court ruled with the plaintiffs, nine zero in civil rights cases issued in june 1951 involving a separate but law school, that sweat versus paper and a graduate school where an african-american student was required to sit in a hall outside the classroom. that's mclaurin board of regent. judge waring was convinced that the supreme cot was ready to reverse plessy if a proper segregation case could be placed on its docket.

judge waringis trial docket in. charleston, a case. south carolina. briggs v elliott, which sought to equalize the facilities in the district and white schools at the time, litigate aiding civil rights cases in the south was very tough slog for the naacp lawyers, and they had a as a sword. that segregation, but they wereequality. this was a highly successful legal strategy. they were winning their cases and it a brilliant kind of strategy because it avoided challenging segregation. the original briggs but it had its every time plessy was used to uphold the rightsan citizens, it in another way

securing the status. the original briggs complaint not explicitly allege that ■segregated public schools were unconstitutional. was not an accident. they were notsserting that at the time when the plaintiffs attorney, thurgood marshall, appeared at november 17, 1954, a pretrial conference on the friday before the trial was the beginning. nd advised judge ter being ushered the justice judge's office without opposing present wearing marshals. try ar separate but equal case. bring me a frontal attack on segregation. marshall responded. it's just not tonight. we don't think this is the case. we don't. this is the time. what he was really saying was, they'll kill my plaintiffs in. clair county, south carolina, if

we do this. judge waring was unpersuaded telling marshall, this is the case. this is the time. marshall urged judge to think pracca noting that any decision by him overturning plessy would be reversed on appeal by the fourth circuit, wearing that since they contested constitutionalityw, ht the appointment of a three judge panel and 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 carefully built one case from the top of another, never trying to get ahead of the supreme court. the path waring was suggesting was a bold and1m unflinching on segregation route and branch. a few minutes after this dramatic encounter, waring convened t conference in briggs and publicly pressed

on wheth h challenging constitutionality of public marshall he was an to dismiss hipendg lawsuit and refile a file new briggs mp as first frontal attack on public school in americanfiled briggs d in the charleston federal courthouse. in may 1951 before a three judge panel, which[4 included waring d prior years the civil rights ses in the south were sparsely attended by members of the black community, lest they be identified as members of the naacp. that wouldet youir schoolteache. or they were. they may be seen as challenges to the racial status. but on the morning of may■p■w 2, 1951, as the sun in charleston, african americans lined up at the federal courthouse and down broad street. as far as the eye could see,

hoping to absorb what many thought might be the most important case in history. l entered the charleston federal that morning, he turned to his youngest sister, bob carter, and said, bob, it's all over. carter his youngest sister, was a bit mystified. what did he mean. he said they're not scared anymore. endance in the courtroom not disappointed by thel and his trial team. the trial included the social psychologist who had done segregation on black children using■í black white dolls. the crowd was also entertained by thurgood devastating cross-examination of the state's witness, whose last name was crow. you can't maket okay. as judge waring anticipated, the majority of the panel ruled that south carolina's mandated

lawful under the plessy doctrine. but judge waring fully aware he was writing a dissent for the &hages, 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 whether segregate in education and our schools is legal. waring discussed in some detail regarding, his doll studies, which he sted demonstrated that quote, the humiliation and disgrace of being set aside segregated is unfit to associate with others of different color has a damaging effect. the mental processes of after carefully examining language of the equal protection clause in theecent decisions of the supreme court, striking down segregated schos concluded

segregation in education can never produce equality and it is an evil that must be. segregation in education and adopted in practice in the state of south carolina must. go and go now. segregation is per se. n4■inequality. judge waring also noted his dissent. the targeted retaliation the briggs plaintiffs had as a result of their participation in the case, which included the loss of jobs, the calling home loans and the failure of the local volunteer fire department to respond to a fire that burned down the home leader, reverend joseph delaney. judge waring stated, that th han example of courage in bringing and presenng this cause in the face of a long established and age old way of life, which state of south carolina has adopted and practice andived since as a result of the institution

of human slavery? where is the senate issued june 1951? was the first challenge to government mandated segregation by federal judge since justice harlan's historic dissent in earlier. in early briggs elliott dissent, judge announced his retirement as a federal and exhausted by his acisin charleston. moved to new york city wearing school cases from virginia and kansas all which were consolidated before the united states court with briggs under the name brown versus of education, other school desegregation cases only way to swearing concluded thatschool segregation even if the facility were equal, violatedamendment of the united states constitution. on may7, 1954, the supreme

court handed unanimously its rd of education. the court found that the■a quote, generate a fli children y affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone. citing the doll studies of dr. clarke, the court explicitly cast aside the separate but equal doctrine and adopted the per se rule that government mandated public schools was unconstitutional. first advanced by waring and, his briggs dissent on the night of the brownf the naacp traveled to judge waring■ toast man they viewed as the waring met with cf justice warren shortly after the brown decision to express his admiration for the clearcut him i felt greatly relieved. when you decided the clarendon

school had been pretty lonely up to that time. ■z■ewaring was the one to be add because you had to do it the hard way. judge waring was always full soft about what he called the unpledged repercussions of his civil rights decision oral hist, waring observed taking the whole thing in balance. i think i am enormously fortunate because you don' the opportunity to do something. think a great stroke of. fortune came down my alley. the othe't amount to anything. they're offset by what i think is a really contribution to the history of our country. thank you. mkit's like you. all me? wonderful. well 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 ng, alienated from the white political south particularly. do youave a ■1nse of how was received by other judges. well, it's kind of interesting. he had know these white primary cases. they went up on appeal and. kly affirmed. kly his two decisions. john jay parker had been nominated to the court at one point in the late twenties and did not get confirmed becae re. heaffirming where he was an admirer of white is country was greatly justices of this coy

well. they t admired him. there was a session a point where he came to washington for a series of meetings. one was with chief justice letter later to thurgood met the chief. he shares our views in that. interesting, because, you know, the view is that vinson was resistant. he also in same visit met president truman and their discussion began with truman saying. the story of the blinded sergeant? and he said, mr. president, i tried that case. so i would say tha i you know, one of the things judge waring went say he was a kind of national in the late forties. he would reporte would ask him fairly commonly that what got into you?

you know, how did you change? and would say, well, the bench i'd developed a passion for justice. that's a wonderful statement. but, you know, there were a lot of other4( southern federal juds who apparently did not develop at that time a passion for juic and so i think it wasn't like was a clamoringit was reale fright. johnson and and the three great ju of thfifth circuit. tuttle and brown. that's really a little later. time they get on the bench. they're eisenhower appointees. himself so i think the answer was, you know, while wait is probably the most reviled man, the white south had, at a minimum, the grudging respect of$. his ad some an admiration. well, you talked a little bit about president and his

knowledge of the isaac woodard story. your talks about how that incident actually motivated the president to me some changes. can you tell us about them? yes you know, it's it's that session in september of 1946 where walter white shares with him the, blinding of isaac iwoodard. it captured imagination in a way that no, these other incidents and there were other incidents in in theing this period some racially inspired murders that didn'tis hit him ie would repeatedly tell the woodad almost anyone who would listen to him. and he decided that same letter he writes, the attorney d, basie guy who blinded isaac woodard. says, we've got to do more than. anhe says, 'm going to appoint the first presidential commission on civil rights. that commission, which was a

landmark event in and of itself, within 11 months of their appointment called to secure these rights and offered about four or five dozen suggest of how to undo jim crow. many of these■cy are the basicay blueprint for the johnson administration. but there was and congress was not going to go along with any of it at time. but harry truman had one thing he could do. he couldrder desegregating armed forces of the united july of 1948, hepres. and what is a remark double letter i found the truman library. a friend of his from missouri wrote him and said, civil right. you're going to lose the election. you're going to lose the south. truman wrote him back and he said toberts,

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 truman's se t desegregated y over the brass. and when he leftm in early 1952, he 95% of american troops were in desegregated units creating the first multiracial institution in american life. so here's the sort of the irony. here's this story. a blinded 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 researcu mene

truman library? yeah. well, first of all, as you remember this when you become a district judge kind of lands on you, right? you you're like, oh, my god, if it's the realand and and, you 'e responsibility. and i wanted to know because, i have this love of history. i want to know the history of our court. member of our way, just wearing and through all those discussions in the end there have been articles at e 've nevd work. nobody really answered this quessbonwait, is where? what motivated this dramatic from being basically a mainstream democratic political to being a civil visionary. how did this happen? and as i looked into it, i found a letter he had written in 1945 in w■çhich he described himselfs

a gradualist, which meant that the courts or or civil groups to be altering in southern life. but he thought it was necessary fo a gradual evolution of southern life, which meant 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 did in the middle of it is the trial of one which all for e blanding of isaac woodard. and so i started with the hypothesis that that was it and i'm sort of midway through my research someone offered me a oral history of tape of an oral history of a woman who was the matriarch, the community. and she was close with the warrens and and so she was beingtalking about judge waring.

and then in the middl listening to it with headphones on. and she says, now, you what chd whoa. here it comes, she says. it 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 that this story that, i believe, contributedto the brown decision. here it was, was this story■] of of this of of this blinded african american did this case get prosecuted in 1946. they weren't justice department was not white cops for black men. that just was t and i dug into m harry 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 civil rigs this from . nobody remembered inspired these act in a courageous way. we're going to turn to the you one more question about finding unusual historical facts. yes. how did you find out about thurd marshall and there? i'll sthat. there was a gentleman by the name ofwho was a reporter, the pittsburgh courier. he president of the north carolina acp. he he was viewed as someone who always had a camera neck. was he prided himself on on being a photographer, a t. but he covered the civil rights

cases. he was a fraternity brothe frie. they actually sort of traveled together when. they would cover the trials and when marshall was was to waring's office. rivera was with him and he walked to the dooren he came oul told him what happened late in life after justice marshall and the judge, passed rivera said, i need to tell a secreec know s. he told it actuall■[ twice oral histories for the historian or duke and at north carolina. and you know here, i have this rather startling story parte communication. the most important case in history. and i was nervous about it. and i was, you know and i only

had one source. gh and. i was at a meeting of judges. carter appointee.el who he'd been on the sixth circuit andcounsel of the naacp a little bit later era. and. our mutual friend michel charles said to me, go talk to nate. he might know something about so i pulled him aside and i said, you know, i'm wor wonderie said. we waring. i said, no, i'm writing very hit it. and he said i said, but i'm curious, have you ever heard about a conversation between white house waring. and thurgood marshall in his

chambers? he said, yes, i thast walter whd marshall's boss told him the story. autobiography, i mentioned it, but i didn't want to about. so, you know, i'm not writers. we and he says it has this line. he says that it is long overlooked that is wearing inspired thurgood marshall to attack segregation root■ and branch. i called him i said nate is that what you're talking about? he says, you need toyou need toe story. so there i wonderful two pretty good ones. so saw anyone from the audienc who would like to ask a question. yes, ma'am. thank you very much both for your remarks. i'm curious, know, judge, if you perceive a difference inv how your book plays a role in the concept of justice, especially with regard to race? conversationbout it before 2020

about race and today? i am i've got to say that i was sort of alreadyfor ik was out but it out in 2019. so you know i get more frnt influence me? and actually it didn't. i point. yo'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. it describes the blanding of isaac woodard. it's not a prettyght it was impr people to appreciate the that ws not a benign thing.

everybody was happy to go along with because underlying it was and use of were necessary. and isaac woodard at as a threal order. black teraer as a threat who would not who came back. 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. you police violence has been an issue for night, yes. how d wrest 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 yorkch basie, cab calloway, others. was chairman of the committee. he was then the rworld. but there was a very interesting memo i found in the acp papers. a staff member wrote walter whit said, you know, in ten years no one will remember his name. she's worried about him. what going to happen to him was blinded. 26 year old guy who was blinded, you know, black man had enough problems in 1946. being blinded was tough and he he he initially really struggled. the militarok vset though he wag got home. wa they said he was dcharged

hours before he was blinded. he did not qualify f■ disabled disability. and i got to givcritacp. they persisted for years, urging to change it and he got disability benefits for benefits and back pay that tremendously changed his life in the he was working as as a blind man newspapers in lower■. manhattane see blind do thosead a social worker at theyou know he wrote m winter coat. well, after 1961, he's he he far 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. s parents. he felt very fll in 1956, jet me ran, a sto called america's most forgotten man, which was i'm so down and then up. and he and bute tragedy. he never knew his■ impact on truman and judge waring. he never knew that sto is proud of all of this. i mean, obviously they knew about joe louis and all that that part they wereer remeg

a limousine to, his house to pick him up know it really his :çcourage of sort of standing up for himself had a transformative effect. american civil rights history. and he jus yes. and in your book about your traveling, bates burg and meeting with local leaders, this is the town where all of this happened and people had no idea they didn't and so what what would you say explains tir lack of recall? and have they done anything to well, there is an interesting problem, amnesia relating civil rights, violence. there just is and bates burge was no exception. so go to bates berg. to do i wanted to make sure that i knew certain events tookand at

like the bus stop wasn't really a building it was a place iteknew where the police car. it was sort of a detailed of that trac night wh he's at it. so i called the town and i said, would you■ k)6 meet me there ona saturday morning? walk me through grown up there. help me with the logistics of all this. and and and he he meets me. and withim is the mayor of blacksburg, whose last namcharld sort of the sa response and, and so, you know, i'm go to where he got off the bus. we gos 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, disorderlyunjustly and. the mayor i'm kind of keeping my home a man and he's becoming like increasingly this and he pe by my elbow and pulls me aside and said, oh, i wanted you to know i'm not re police chief from missouri. then he says what can we do? and he says, i'm a harry truman fan. so he says to me, what can we do to, make this right? a series of he and i and the about they could do and they did a couple of and for t ttion to be overturned of the blind aftey

telling truth of, the blinding of isaac woodard by their police. they held a sarah mony in councl veral hundred people from burg walked the pat from the bus stop around blinded and toe of. the jail, which is n a cleared area, and they had erected the historic marker and they have now announced that they are turning that space into a and they're going to title it the isaac woodard community park york times wrote an article about this was a who got it@u right who acknowledged ther history. so it's a kind of wonderful story. retragic in the inception, but

redemptive in terms of the way the to i think we have time for one more question. sure. you said, um, it just happened right after war two and i believe that it's now. jim crow. they were inspired by jim crow laws. that's correct. and i'm wondering to what extent judge waring was aware of that. europe influence him at all? he you know, the ansr is he did know about the he did know about the nazis and the death lz4$b/camps and actually, when e 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 ■ich is kind of

interesting. so he that that there had an haliberty and had r the police and the whole sort of m.nazi regime. and, yes, i think it influenced own views on race andcan you all please join me in thinking, judge gergelfor a wonderful presentation presentation. ■so. i i suggest you go right out and order book on amazon. an easy read. it is fascinating. publisher would like that and that's just in return for the favor did earlier by the very very paid to the historical society

appreciate that very much. please keep that mind as we enjoy the rest the evening. obviously. 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 amersus board of education and. i can tell you, ik. learned a lt 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 house historical 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 with you and we look forward to that. and now we have a reception. great hall, right outside these doors, and we will enjoy the rest of and hopefully, if you have specific questions, you can raise them with the good judge. and on that note are adjourned. thank you.