Where is Eric-2022.10

September 28, 2022:      The Ballad of Isaac Woodard

In 1946, Isaac Woodard, an African American World War II veteran honorably discharged from the Army, was making his way home to see his family in South Carolina on a Greyhound bus. During the ride, Woodard asked the bus driver if he could use the restroom. The white bus driver initially refused his request, but later in the trip he begrudgingly stopped in the town of Batesburg so Woodard could use the restroom.

The bus driver, furious over having to stop and reportedly not being addressed “sir” by Woodard, told the white police chief of Batesburg, Lynwood Shull, about Woodard’s behavior. Shull and a few other police officers forcibly removed Woodard, who was still in his Army uniform, from the bus and dragged him to the local jail. Inside the jail, Shull brutally beat the WWII soldier, permanently blinding him. Despite overwhelming testimony, an all white jury found Shull innocent. This incident proved to be a turning point in race relations in the US. Then President Truman was shocked – and in 1948 Truman signed Executive Orders 9980 and 9981, racially integrating the U.S. military and the federal government workforce.  The incident also inspired the poet Aaron Kramer to compose a short poem.

By the 1960s, what with the growing civil rights movement, the incident was largely forgotten.  However, in 1964 the composer Irwin Heilner (my dad) put Aaron Kramer’s poem to music and published it in issue #54 of Broadside Magazine.   You can listen to a version here – it’s 2 minutes of searing emotion (that’s Irwin singing – not too shabby there dad).

The Ballad of Isaac Woodard
by Aaron Kramer

Because the color of my skin is dark and yours is light,
The jury counted it no sin to rob me of my sight.
And so it is that you go free, Patrolman Lynwood Shull;
And so while night envelops me,
Your world is beautiful.
But though the sum will never rise and never set again,
My blindness lets me see what eyes have seldom shown to men.
I see a midnight on the lands,
Parched lives and prospering flowers;
I see black deeds upon white hands,
Black hearts in gleaming towers.
All this, and stranger things beside,
I see now, thanks to you:
I see great Justice turn and hide –
You’ve gouged her eyes out too.

As I read & listen to this I am reminded of the “Dictionary Scene” in Spike Lee’s movie of Malcolm X.  In the scene, Malcolm’s mentor in prison opens up a dictionary and shows Malcolm the definitions & synonyms/connotations of the words “black” & “white” – as we all know “black” has mostly negative implications in the English language.  I bring this up not as a some sort of historical revisionist critique of the poem’s using the word “black” to describe something that happened to a black person, but simply to note that there are unresolvable contradictions in the way we use language.  A more detailed discussion is way beyond my pay grade.

There is so much more that could be said here.  In 2019, a new book – Unexamined Courage by author Richard Gergel revived interest in Woodard – and PBS featured the book in their American Experiences series.  And – as always – if you’re curious there’s plenty of stuff on the internet.