February 1946
Events
- February 12, 1946Sergeant Isaac Woodard Blinded by Police While Still in Uniform
On February 12, 1946, Sergeant Isaac Woodard, still in his Army uniform hours after his honorable discharge, is dragged from a Greyhound bus in Batesburg, South Carolina by Police Chief Lynwood Shull after a dispute. Shull beats Woodard with a nightstick, gouging his eyes. Woodard is left blind for life. He is charged with disorderly conduct. Shull is acquitted by an all-white jury in 1946. The case outrages President Truman and directly influences Executive Order 9981 desegregating the military.
- February 25, 1946Columbia Tennessee Riot: Police Rampage Through Black Neighborhood
In Columbia, Tennessee, a confrontation between Navy veteran James Stephenson and a white radio repairman escalates into a two-day state police rampage through the Black business district. State police and highway patrolmen invade Mink Slide, the Black commercial district, smashing property and shooting two Black men. 28 Black men are arrested; two are shot in jail by police who claim they attempted escape. The NAACP mounts a major defense and Thurgood Marshall is nearly lynched when his car is stopped by a mob on the way home.
- February 12, 1946The blinding of Isaac Woodard
A Black veteran is beaten and blinded by police, galvanizing federal civil-rights attention.