Public Service Announcement (PSA): All-Star Justice Center

 

There's still much work to be done, but the old All-Star Triangle Bowling Lanes on Russell Street is on the path to reopening. In its new life it will be called the All-Star Justice Center. It will not only feature 16 bowling lanes but will also have a civil rights museum to reflect the business' role in what became the Orangeburg Massacre. 

My students and I are producing public service announcements to help raise awareness about the important project and also to solicit donations.

To follow is the script for my 60-second PSA.
Click here to listen to the final product.  

All-Star Justice Center PSA
Patrick Harwood
April 18, 2024
Time: 60 seconds 

Music bed

Two SC State students are walking on campus when they hear this sound: 

Bowling bowl hitting pins

Student 1: Hey did you hear that?

Student 2: Yes I did! It sounded like a bowling alley!

Voice from the great beyond: Greetings S-C State students. I'm a voice from your school's past. Have you heard about how in 1968 hundreds of us college students tried to integrate the All-Star Bowling Lanes over on Russell Street?

Student 1: That's when the owner wouldn't let Black folks in to bowl. 

Student 2: Right, that sure was an ugly time.

Voice from beyond: Things got really ugly the night of February 8th, 1968. Law enforcement opened fire on students gathered on your campus. Three young men were killed and more than two dozen others were wounded. 

Student 1: That was the Orangeburg Massacre!

Student 2: So I here there's something going on with the bowling alley?

Voice from beyond: Indeed there is! Work is underway to reopen the All-Star Lanes and turn parts of it into a civil rights museum so people will always remember the tragedy caused by segregation back then.

Student 1: This sounds great!

Student 2: How can we help? 

Voice from beyond: With your help, the All-Star Justice Center can get to the finish line sooner than later. For more information and to make a donation, please go to center for creativepartnerships-dot-org. That's center-for-creativepartnerships-dot-org. 

End with bowling alley sound 

Podcast Productions: Student-Athletes, Campus Issues and More!

We recently dusted off one of our department's old Allen and Heath mixing boards to record a series of podcasts. 

Podcasts seem to be as popular as ever so this project gave the students a chance to be part of one. They will be writing blog posts that feature their particular podcasts complete with the recording, photos and their thoughts about being part of one in our Radio Production class.

(Audio Story) Orangeburg Native Remembers the Orangeburg Massacre

Sandra Paul Miller was a student at Orangeburg's Wilkinson High School on Feb. 8, 1968 when shots rang out on the campus of South Carolina State University. Fortunately for her, she was far away from the school at home with her mother.

Fortunate because three young men were killed and more than two dozen others were wounded when nine S.C. Highway Patrol officers opened fire on the 200 or so SC State and Claflin students who had gathered around a bonfire in the wake of attempts in the previous days to integrate a bowling alley nearby on Russell Street. 

My students and I met Ms. Miller at the All Star Bowling Lanes in February 2022. It was by happenstance that she was there. We went there to interview Ellen Zisholtz, who is leading an ambitious effort to restore the bowling alley and also make it a civil rights museum. 

Click here to listen to my two-and-a-half-minute report about Ms. Miller and her experiences marching for integration and other civil rights for Black Americans. The music included is courtesy of Incompetech. 

Click here to listen to the unedited interview (seven minutes 30 seconds)

February 2024- Students in my BC 203 Radio Production visit the plaza on campus that commemorates the Orangeburg Massacre.

Click here to see my blog post that proceeded this final production audio report.