Читать книгу Freedom Facts and Firsts - Jessie Carney Smith - Страница 94

This tragedy took place on February 8, 1968, less than two months before the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, but did not receive the same level of media coverage. The event involved a deadly confrontation between African Americans and law enforcement authorities on the campus of South Carolina State College (now University). State highway patrolmen fired into a crowd of African American students who had been protesting racial discrimination policies in Orangeburg, with three young black men losing their lives in the violence. Orangeburg’s only bowling alley still refused to admit blacks, in defiance of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, while other local businesses and facilities had changed their policies. Students from South Carolina State, Claflin College, and Allen University, all Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) located in Orangeburg, began direct protests at the site on the evening of February 5. They were led by John Stroman, a senior at South Carolina State and avid bowler who was tired of driving 40 miles to Columbia to another bowling alley that was open to African Americans. The owner, Harry Floyd, called local police who forcibly removed the students from the property. He previously changed the “For White Only” sign to “Privately Owned,” and city authorities supported his contention that he had the right to choose customers for a “private establishment.”

The students returned on February 6, but were met by local and state police. Some were arrested and then released into the custody of South Carolina State’s Dean of Students Oscar Butler. Violence broke out while other students were returning to the campus, with a number of students and several officers injured or hospitalized. White-owned businesses in downtown Orangeburg were also vandalized. Activist Cleveland Sellers, a South Carolina native involved with the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and organizer of the local Black Awareness Coordinating Committee (BACC), was accused of being an instigator of the outbreak. M. Maceo Nance, acting president of South Carolina State, visited students at hospitals and made the statement during a public meeting with city officials the next day that no property damage occurred until after “the young ladies were hit” by police officers. On the following Friday morning he issued a statement encouraging students to stay on the campus and in dormitories when not in class. South Carolina Governor Robert McNair appeared on television, stating that “outside agitators” (mentioning Cleveland Sellers in particular) had caused the problems in Orangeburg, and sent additional highway patrolmen and National Guard units to the city. Students became more angry and frustrated by the actions of the governor and other white officials; they gathered near the edge of the campus that evening. Shortly after 10:30 P.M., police officer David Shealy was injured, escalating the situation. Shots were fired, Samuel Hammond, Delano Middleton, and Henry Smith were killed, and 27 other male and female students were seriously wounded. The historical marker at the site notes that this tragedy was “the first of its kind on any American college campus.”

Fletcher F. Moon

The historical marker at the site notes that this tragedy was “the first of its kind on any American college campus.”