1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:08,559 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:13,680 Speaker 1: Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, a 3 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:16,840 Speaker 1: show that shines a light on the ups and downs 4 00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:22,360 Speaker 1: of everyday history. I'm Gay Lucia, and today we're reflecting 5 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:26,080 Speaker 1: on one of the most shocking yet least remembered moments 6 00:00:26,120 --> 00:00:30,160 Speaker 1: of the civil rights movement. As a warning, today's episode 7 00:00:30,200 --> 00:00:34,080 Speaker 1: includes descriptions of police brutality and may be upsetting for 8 00:00:34,159 --> 00:00:46,280 Speaker 1: some listeners. The day was February eighth, nineteen sixty eight. 9 00:00:47,200 --> 00:00:51,440 Speaker 1: White state troopers shot and killed three unarmed black students 10 00:00:51,680 --> 00:00:56,960 Speaker 1: on a college campus in Orangeburg, South Carolina. Located between 11 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:01,000 Speaker 1: Columbia and Charleston, the city of Orangeburg has long been 12 00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:05,559 Speaker 1: the home of two historically black colleges and universities, South 13 00:01:05,600 --> 00:01:10,240 Speaker 1: Carolina State and Klaflin. In the nineteen sixties, this put 14 00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:13,640 Speaker 1: the city in the unique position of having more educated 15 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:18,240 Speaker 1: black citizens than many other Southern towns. As you might expect, 16 00:01:18,520 --> 00:01:21,959 Speaker 1: much of that black population was heavily involved in the 17 00:01:21,959 --> 00:01:25,800 Speaker 1: civil rights movement of the era. Martin Luther King Junior 18 00:01:26,080 --> 00:01:30,000 Speaker 1: even stopped in Orangeburg on several occasions to deliver speeches. 19 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:33,960 Speaker 1: His spirit of activism took root in the city's colleges, 20 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:37,560 Speaker 1: and students often led protests to combat racism in their 21 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:41,400 Speaker 1: own community. By the early months of nineteen sixty eight, 22 00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:44,960 Speaker 1: the students focused their efforts on one target, in particular, 23 00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:49,320 Speaker 1: a local bowling alley owned by white proprietor Harry Floyd. 24 00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:54,320 Speaker 1: The nineteen sixty four Civil Rights Act had outlawed discrimination 25 00:01:54,520 --> 00:01:59,280 Speaker 1: based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, but 26 00:01:59,440 --> 00:02:03,240 Speaker 1: four years yars later, Floyd's All Star Bowling Lanes was 27 00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:07,840 Speaker 1: still whites only. Local black community leaders had tried several 28 00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:12,160 Speaker 1: times to convince him to integrate his business, but Floyd refused, 29 00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:15,160 Speaker 1: claiming that he'd lose all his white customers if he 30 00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:20,120 Speaker 1: allowed blacks to bowl. Finally, on February fifth, a group 31 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:23,160 Speaker 1: of students took matters into their own hands by going 32 00:02:23,200 --> 00:02:25,639 Speaker 1: to the bowling alley and staging a sit in the 33 00:02:25,720 --> 00:02:29,760 Speaker 1: lunch counter. The protest ended without incident after the police 34 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:32,760 Speaker 1: were called and the business closed early, but the students 35 00:02:32,760 --> 00:02:35,280 Speaker 1: returned the next day, and as soon as they entered 36 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:40,120 Speaker 1: the building, fifteen of them were arrested for trespassing. News 37 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:43,320 Speaker 1: of the arrests traveled fast in the small town, and 38 00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:46,640 Speaker 1: hundreds of students began to gather in a nearby parking 39 00:02:46,639 --> 00:02:50,320 Speaker 1: lot to plan their next move. The growing crowd was 40 00:02:50,360 --> 00:02:54,520 Speaker 1: soon confronted by Orangeburg police officers and state troopers, who 41 00:02:54,600 --> 00:02:57,600 Speaker 1: assured them that the arrested students would soon be released. 42 00:02:58,360 --> 00:03:02,640 Speaker 1: The situation was ds escalating nicely until a fire truck 43 00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:05,840 Speaker 1: arrived on the scene. For many in the crowd, the 44 00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:09,280 Speaker 1: truck's arrival reminded them of a demonstration they had attended 45 00:03:09,280 --> 00:03:12,520 Speaker 1: a year earlier, in which powerful hoses were turned on 46 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:16,120 Speaker 1: them as a method of crowd control. Fearing that history 47 00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:19,240 Speaker 1: was about to repeat itself, many of the students rushed 48 00:03:19,280 --> 00:03:22,120 Speaker 1: toward the bowling alley for shelter, and in their panic, 49 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:25,560 Speaker 1: one of them broke a pane of glass. Moments later, 50 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:29,880 Speaker 1: the police advanced on the students and began beating them indiscriminately, 51 00:03:30,080 --> 00:03:34,760 Speaker 1: both men and women alike. The fleeing students were enraged 52 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:37,560 Speaker 1: by the show of police brutality, and on the way 53 00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:41,120 Speaker 1: back to their respective campuses, several smashed the windows of 54 00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:45,240 Speaker 1: white owned businesses and to face the cars parked outside them. 55 00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:50,120 Speaker 1: These incidents prompted an overreaction from white South Carolina Governor 56 00:03:50,240 --> 00:03:54,200 Speaker 1: Robert McNair. He called in the National Guard, and by 57 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:57,680 Speaker 1: the evening of February eighth, several tanks and more than 58 00:03:57,720 --> 00:04:01,440 Speaker 1: a hundred heavily armed officers had cordoned off the South 59 00:04:01,480 --> 00:04:06,640 Speaker 1: Carolina State campus. Late that night, around one hundred students 60 00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:10,280 Speaker 1: gathered on the campus lawn to protest the city's occupation. 61 00:04:11,120 --> 00:04:14,400 Speaker 1: Some of them chanted black power at the armed officers 62 00:04:14,440 --> 00:04:18,159 Speaker 1: stationed around them, while others formed a chorus singing we 63 00:04:18,279 --> 00:04:23,800 Speaker 1: shall overcome. Everything remained peaceful until around ten pm, when 64 00:04:23,839 --> 00:04:26,560 Speaker 1: the students lit a bonfire to keep warm and the 65 00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:31,279 Speaker 1: patrolman once again called in the fire department. The firefighters 66 00:04:31,320 --> 00:04:35,640 Speaker 1: were escorted onto campus by police armed with carbines, pistols, 67 00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:39,839 Speaker 1: and riot guns. Then, at ten thirty pm, someone in 68 00:04:39,880 --> 00:04:43,120 Speaker 1: the crowd threw an object at the police. Some witnesses 69 00:04:43,160 --> 00:04:45,800 Speaker 1: said it was a piece of a wooden banister, while 70 00:04:45,839 --> 00:04:49,200 Speaker 1: others claimed it was something smaller. In either case, the 71 00:04:49,200 --> 00:04:52,840 Speaker 1: objects struck patrolman Dave Sheeley in the face, at which 72 00:04:52,839 --> 00:04:56,120 Speaker 1: point nine of his fellow officers opened fire on the 73 00:04:56,200 --> 00:05:00,240 Speaker 1: unarmed students. It was standard police practice to use whose 74 00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:03,640 Speaker 1: bird shot when dispersing a riot, even though the campus 75 00:05:03,680 --> 00:05:07,560 Speaker 1: gathering hardly qualified as such, but it was later revealed 76 00:05:07,560 --> 00:05:10,560 Speaker 1: that the officers that night had loaded their guns with 77 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:15,720 Speaker 1: double ot Buckshot, a much higher caliber ammunition. The results 78 00:05:15,720 --> 00:05:19,640 Speaker 1: of that choice were devastating. The patrolman fired into the 79 00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:23,400 Speaker 1: mostly black crowd for at least eight seconds, and when 80 00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:26,920 Speaker 1: it was over, twenty eight students lay injured and three 81 00:05:27,040 --> 00:05:30,400 Speaker 1: more were dead. Two of the black gentlemen who were 82 00:05:30,440 --> 00:05:34,839 Speaker 1: killed that night had attended South Carolina State, Samuel Hammond, 83 00:05:34,960 --> 00:05:38,320 Speaker 1: an eighteen year old freshman from Florida, and Henry Smith, 84 00:05:38,640 --> 00:05:41,920 Speaker 1: an eighteen year old sophomore from Mary in South Carolina. 85 00:05:42,640 --> 00:05:46,640 Speaker 1: The third victim, Delano Middleton, was a seventeen year old 86 00:05:46,720 --> 00:05:49,480 Speaker 1: high school student. He had been waiting for his mother 87 00:05:49,600 --> 00:05:52,680 Speaker 1: to finish her shift as a campus custodian and happened 88 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:55,320 Speaker 1: to be sitting near the protest when the shooting started. 89 00:05:56,200 --> 00:05:59,440 Speaker 1: The police later claimed that the students had shot first, 90 00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:04,760 Speaker 1: but numerous witness accounts from reporters, firefighters, and students contradicted 91 00:06:04,800 --> 00:06:09,919 Speaker 1: their story. Multiple investigations found no evidence that any of 92 00:06:09,960 --> 00:06:14,120 Speaker 1: the protesters had firearms, but that didn't stop Governor McNair 93 00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:18,760 Speaker 1: from blaming the violence on quote black power advocates. He 94 00:06:18,880 --> 00:06:22,599 Speaker 1: insisted that the officers had fired in self defense after 95 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:27,559 Speaker 1: being attacked by students wielding firebombs and sniper rifles. These 96 00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:32,400 Speaker 1: lies were repeated by local newspapers and eventually by national outlets. 97 00:06:32,839 --> 00:06:36,440 Speaker 1: The Associated Press, for example, described the incident as a 98 00:06:36,520 --> 00:06:40,799 Speaker 1: quote heavy exchange of gunfire, a false statement for which 99 00:06:40,839 --> 00:06:45,240 Speaker 1: it never issued a correction. The actual evidence from the 100 00:06:45,320 --> 00:06:48,719 Speaker 1: night of the shooting told a much different story. All 101 00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:51,720 Speaker 1: but two of the students killed or injured had been 102 00:06:51,800 --> 00:06:54,839 Speaker 1: shot in the back, the side, or through the soles 103 00:06:54,880 --> 00:06:58,560 Speaker 1: of their feet. They weren't injured while attacking the police. 104 00:06:58,800 --> 00:07:02,280 Speaker 1: They were gunned down while trying to get away. The 105 00:07:02,400 --> 00:07:05,839 Speaker 1: nine patrolmen who opened fire that night were later charged 106 00:07:05,839 --> 00:07:08,200 Speaker 1: for their role in the shooting and stood trial in 107 00:07:08,279 --> 00:07:12,120 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty nine, but in an outcome that seems sickeningly 108 00:07:12,240 --> 00:07:17,040 Speaker 1: predictable today, all of them were exonerated. In fact, the 109 00:07:17,120 --> 00:07:20,360 Speaker 1: only person convicted of a crime in connection with the 110 00:07:20,400 --> 00:07:25,440 Speaker 1: Orangeburg massacre was one of the victims. Cleveland Sellers, a 111 00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:28,920 Speaker 1: young black activist and the program director of the student 112 00:07:29,080 --> 00:07:32,560 Speaker 1: Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, had been shot in the side of 113 00:07:32,600 --> 00:07:35,840 Speaker 1: his arm while on campus. His work with the committee 114 00:07:35,880 --> 00:07:39,080 Speaker 1: made him a convenient scapegoat for the state so even 115 00:07:39,160 --> 00:07:41,640 Speaker 1: though he had played a minimal role in the protest, 116 00:07:41,960 --> 00:07:46,360 Speaker 1: Sellers was charged and ultimately found guilty of inciting a riot. 117 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:49,440 Speaker 1: He went on to serve about eight months of his 118 00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:53,040 Speaker 1: year long prison sentence and was then released early on 119 00:07:53,080 --> 00:07:57,880 Speaker 1: good behavior. More than two decades later, Sellers was granted 120 00:07:57,880 --> 00:08:01,680 Speaker 1: a formal pardon, but he refused to have his record expunged, 121 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:04,480 Speaker 1: viewing it as what he called a badge of honor. 122 00:08:05,200 --> 00:08:09,040 Speaker 1: I accepted the pardon, he told reporters, but that doesn't 123 00:08:09,040 --> 00:08:13,680 Speaker 1: clean the slate. In the decades since, several South Carolina 124 00:08:13,760 --> 00:08:17,200 Speaker 1: governors and mayors have made other attempts to clean the 125 00:08:17,240 --> 00:08:20,800 Speaker 1: slate by issuing apologies to the victims and their families. 126 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:25,120 Speaker 1: Multiple memorials have also been raised in their honor, and 127 00:08:25,320 --> 00:08:30,360 Speaker 1: SC State commemorates the tragedy each year. Nonetheless, the events 128 00:08:30,400 --> 00:08:34,840 Speaker 1: at Orangeburg remain largely unknown to the general public. That 129 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:39,000 Speaker 1: oversight seems downright damning when you consider the prominence held 130 00:08:39,040 --> 00:08:43,480 Speaker 1: by similar shootings involving white student protesters, such as those 131 00:08:43,520 --> 00:08:48,600 Speaker 1: at Kent State and Jackson State. The Orangeburg massacre deserves 132 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:52,040 Speaker 1: a place in America's collective memory, because if we're ever 133 00:08:52,160 --> 00:08:55,200 Speaker 1: to have any hope of addressing the systemic failures that 134 00:08:55,320 --> 00:08:58,040 Speaker 1: led to it. We have to remember that it happened 135 00:08:58,280 --> 00:09:04,840 Speaker 1: in the first place. I'm Gabe Lucier and hopefully you 136 00:09:04,920 --> 00:09:07,880 Speaker 1: now know a little more about history today than you 137 00:09:07,920 --> 00:09:11,640 Speaker 1: did yesterday. If you have a second and you're so inclined, 138 00:09:11,920 --> 00:09:16,520 Speaker 1: consider following us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at TDI 139 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:20,880 Speaker 1: HC Show, and if you have any comments or suggestions, 140 00:09:21,040 --> 00:09:23,280 Speaker 1: feel free to drop me a line by writing to 141 00:09:23,360 --> 00:09:28,120 Speaker 1: This Day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays 142 00:09:28,200 --> 00:09:30,600 Speaker 1: for producing the show, and thanks to you for listening. 143 00:09:30,960 --> 00:09:33,760 Speaker 1: I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another day 144 00:09:34,040 --> 00:09:35,120 Speaker 1: in History class.