HISTORY This Week From Radio Diaries: Orson Welles and the Blind Soldier
Mar 12, 2026
Orson Welles appears through Radio Diaries to investigate the 1946 beating and blinding of Isaac Woodard. Corrine Johnson, Richard Gergel, Laura Williams, and James L. Felder Sr. offer eyewitness memory, legal context, family perspective, and NAACP reaction. The story follows the bus attack, Woodard’s affidavit, and how Welles used his platform to demand accountability.
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Sole Witness Recounts Street Beating
- Corrine Johnson witnessed the beating from the theater ticket box and later stood on the railroad track watching a man being beaten by police near the drugstore.
- She says she's the only living eyewitness who "ain't never forgot it," anchoring the story in a firsthand account.
Returning Veteran Targeted Despite Service
- The attack happened to a discharged Black soldier in uniform on February 12, 1946, and the brutality highlighted how returning veterans could be violently mistreated at home.
- Richard Gergel frames Isaac Woodard as a decorated soldier beaten after a bus dispute, turning a personal injury into a symbol of systemic racism.
Bus Dispute Escalated To Blinding Attack
- Richard Gergel recounts how the bus driver cursed Isaac Woodard, left to fetch a police officer, and Woodard was struck with a blackjack and beaten en route to jail.
- Woodard woke the next morning permanently blind after the officer drove the baton into his eyes.