In the year of our Lord 1946 the eyes of Isaac Woodard, veteran, were gouged in punishment for being a Negro.
Chicago, Illinois: Congress of Industrial Organizations, 1946. Four page pamphlet measuring 5 ¼ x 4 ⅛ inches. Folded as issued. Toned and worn, with wrinkle at bottom left corner and small tear to top center margin; very good. Item #List3816
A scarce CIO campaign pamphlet issued in Chicago for the 1946 congressional election, using the blinding of Isaac Woodard to argue for federal civil rights legislation and labor-backed progressive candidates. The pamphlet promotes William A. Rowan for Congress and Emily Taft Douglas for the at-large congressional seat, framing their campaigns around three long-blocked civil-rights measures: the federal anti-lynching bill, the poll tax amendment, and the Fair Employment Practice Committee. The cover features a photograph of Isaac Woodard, the Black World War II veteran who was beaten and blinded by police in South Carolina in February 1946, only hours after his discharge from the Army. The cover text turns Woodard’s assault into a direct political indictment: “In the year of our Lord 1946 the eyes of Isaac Woodard, veteran, were gouged in punishment for being a Negro.” Inside, the pamphlet links Woodard’s case to the failure of Congress to pass anti-lynching legislation, abolish the poll tax, or preserve the wartime FEPC. Rowan and Douglas both lost their reelection campaigns, adding to the pamphlet’s interest as a record of the defeated progressive-labor civil rights coalition in immediate postwar Illinois. We find no other examples.
Price: $450.00
Status: On Hold