‘Unexampled Courage’: Judge Richard Gergel Sheds Light on Civil Rights History as Georgetown Law Jurist-in-Residence

February 4, 2025

Judge Richard Gergel gave a book talk as part of his Georgetown Law Jurist-in-Residence visit.

Judge Richard Gergel of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina joined members of the Georgetown Law community on Jan. 27 and 28 as part of Georgetown Law’s Jurist-in-Residence program. Now in its second year, the program brings judges from across the country to campus to connect with students and share insights about their legal careers and experiences on the bench.

In conversation with Professor Brad Snyder, Gergel discussed the far-reaching effects of the 1946 blinding of Sergeant Isaac Woodard, a Black World War II veteran who was assaulted in police custody. As detailed in Gergel’s book Unexampled Courage: The Blinding of Sgt. Isaac Woodard and the Awakening of President Harry S. Truman and Judge J. Waties Waring, the incident galvanized Truman, who learned of Woodard’s ordeal from NAACP leader Walter White, and Waring, the judge who presided over the all-white jury who acquitted Woodard’s attacker, to advocate on behalf of Black Americans.

Woodard’s impact on Truman and Waring, Gergel explained, laid the groundwork for such civil rights victories as the desegregation of the U.S. armed forces by Truman in 1948 and the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which drew on Waring’s dissent in an earlier case concerning school desegregation.

“We have collective amnesia about injustices of Jim Crow,” said Gergel in response to a student question about why Woodard’s story is not more widely known. Judges like Waring, he reflected, can play a key role in advocating for justice in the courtroom and beyond – even in the face of widespread criticism. “Federal judges sometimes have to do unpopular things to uphold civil rights,” he said.

In addition to the book talk, Gergel’s two-day campus visit included a class visit, time to meet with students and a “Path to the Bench” conversation with his former law clerk and Georgetown Law alumnus Deon McCray, L’22. Upcoming jurists-in-residence include Judge Anne Nardacci of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York and Judge Denny Chin of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, who will visit campus later this semester.

“The torch is being passed,” Gergel said of the importance of facilitating connections between judges and the next generation of legal professionals. “At this moment there couldn’t be anything more important than lawyers that have a passion for justice.”