The Bathroom Break That Helped End Segregation
On February 12, 1946, a 26-year-old African American veteran named Sergeant Isaac Woodard had just returned home from fighting in World War II. Isaac boarded a Greyhound bus to go to his home in Winnsboro, South Carolina. On the way, Isaac asked the driver if he could pull over for a rest stop. For some reason, this infuriated the driver, and he called the police on Isaac. When they arrived, the police beat him and gouged his eyes. He ended up in the hospital for three days, and became permanently blind. This story got national attention, and people were horrified by the injustice that Isaac experienced, and it inspired many people to get involved with the desegregation movement. Two years later, President Harry S. Truman issued Executive Order 9981 which ended segregation.