On July 28, 1946, Orson Welles opened his syndicated radio show with the harrowing affidavit of Isaac Woodard, a Black solider who was beaten by police in South Carolina. Welles continued to tell the story over the course of five weeks, shining a national spotlight on the brutal attack and bringing in crucial information: a listener tip helped NAACP lawyers identify the officer who had beaten Woodard. Learn about the case that jumpstarted the modern civil rights movement in THE BLINDING OF ISAAC

Presiding over the trial that acquitted the white police chief who blinded Black soldier Isaac Woodard in 1946 shook Judge Waties Waring. He began to seek out civil rights cases to rule on with an eye to taking down segregation nationwide. THE BLINDING OF ISAAC WOODARD premieres Tue Mar 30 at 9/8c → pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/blinding-isaac-woodard | American Experience | PBS