(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. 

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. 

To hear the full, unedited interview that runs 7:30, click here.

Paying Respects to the Orangeburg Massacre Victims

 

On the eve of the 55th annual Orangeburg Massacre memorial event at SC State, my students and I visited this sacred site on campus: the Smith Hammond Middleton Legacy Plaza. 

This is named for the three young men who perished on that tragic day, Feb. 8, 1968. 

These three young men were shot to death by highway patrol officers when hundreds of SC State and Claflin students gathered around a bonfire. Two days prior the students protested a segregated bowling alley. 

Killed, from right to left, were Henry E. Smith, 18, Samuel Hammond Jr. (both SC State students) and Delano Middleton, 17, a Wilkinson High School student. 

The three bronze busts were sculpted by one of SC State's own: Dr. Toulupe Filani, chair of the Department of Visual and Performing Arts. 

He is pictured here shaking the hand of school President Alexander Conyers. This was at last year's Feb. 8 commemoration when Filani's creations were unveiled. 

Filani, who goes by Tolu, signed each bust that he crafted from clay. Curiously, he completed them in 2014. So why did it take eight years for them to be bronzed and displayed like this? 

In an interview I conducted with Filani at last February's event, he admitted to having trouble getting the backing of SC State's leadership to fund the bronzing, which he says cost $30,000. 

Listen to his comment here.

Fortunately, Filani didn't give up! 

In this next soundbite, he modestly responds to my question about how pleased me must be that his creations are finally on public display.

Listen here.

In this third comment, Filani says how his vision of creating art for the SC State campus dates back to when he came here for his job interview back in 2006.      Listen here.

The Brains Behind the Bronze Busts

 

He is the brains and brawn behind the busts! (hear my report here!)

On February 8 at the ceremony to unveil the bronze busts of the young men killed on this date 54 years ago- what became known as the Orangeburg Massacre- an S-C State art professor from Nigeria took a well-deserved bow. 

Dr. Tolulope (two-loo-loo-pay) Filani sculpted in clay the heads of the three young men who perished on that tragic night in 1968. 

By now most people who work and study on the S-C State campus 

have seen Filani's creations. They are displayed at the new and improved Smith Hammond Middleton Legacy Plaza. But it's safe to say not many know whose skillful hands crafted the three likenesses. 

Know you will know!  Filani came to S-C State in 2006. He is now chair of the university's fine arts department. Filani says the idea of sculpting the Orangeburg Massacre victims came to him when he first visited the school. 

SOT: :21 Filani  (counter- :26-:49)
In: When I came in
Out: had to work 

Soundbite Selection Exercise: Orangeburg Native Reflects on February 1968 SC State Shootings

Note: This post was updated in February 2024

February 8, 1968 was a day of infamy for people in and around Orangeburg, S.C. On that evening the tragic event occurred that became immortalized as the Orangeburg Massacre. 

In 1968, Sandra Paul Miller (pictured left) was a junior at Wilkinson High School (now Orangeburg-Wilkinson H.S.). She knows all too well what happened that bloody night. She says, in fact, she likely would have been on the SC State campus among the 200 or so people gathered, except for her mother.

Listen to Ms. Miller's own voice here.
SOT: :06
Incue: It just so happens...
Outcue: I just missed it

My SC State students and I had the pleasure of meeting Miller when we went to the old All-Star Bowling Lanes to speak with Ellen Zisholtz who is leading an ambitious project to restore the bowling alley and also make the site on Russell Street a Civil Rights Museum. 

Miller is very excited about the plans to reopen the old bowling alley that was the impetus for the fatal shootings more than half a century ago when students from SC State and Claflin tried to integrate it. They just wanted to bowl but the White owner refused to let them in.  

Hear Miller here
SOT: :48
In: Well I tell you what...
Out: better for them

Three young men died as a result of law enforcement opening fire on the crowd of gatherers. What exactly sparked the barrage of gunfire is still disputed. Miller was a classmate of Delano Middleton, one of the three fatally shot victims. She shared this remembrance of the 17-year-old. She knew him from school.
                                        SOT: :14
                                        In: And it was a very sad day...
                                        Out: happened to him 

                                                    Delano Herman Middleton (1950-1968) 

Sandra Paul Miller's last words to us were that people today need to know what happened all those years ago. She says it's important...it's imperative...it's inspirational. 

February 1, 2024- students in my BC 203 Radio Production class visit the plaza where the busts of the three slain young men are immortalized on the SC State campus. 

(Note: Regarding the purpose of this class project, by selecting three soundbites from the Sandra Paul Miller interview, it will be easier next to write and produce a radio-style report with the student's voice and her SOTs combined to make a compelling report.)

To hear the full 7:30 interview, click here.

SC State News Release on Feb. 8, 2022 New Orangeburg Massacre Monument

 

Soundbite Selection From Ellen Zisholtz Bowling Alley Restoration Interview

 

Ellen Zisholtz inside the old bowling alley
(Photos courtesy Charleston Post and Courier)

An important future may be in store for an old bowling alley in Orangeburg that was pivotal in the tragic day in 1968 that became known as the Orangeburg Massacre.  

The long-closed All Star Triangle lanes on Russell Street will have a bright future if former SC State museum director Ellen Zisholtz (pictured) has her way. She is leading an effort to restore the bowling alley and make it into a Civil Rights museum. And, yes, people will again be able to bowl there!  

                                                                                            

Orangeburg Massacre Anniversary Remembered

February 8, 1968 is a day of infamy in the history of South Carolina, Orangeburg, South Carolina State University and America's civil rights movement.

That night, officers with the S.C. Highway Patrol opened fire on a large group of students (including from neighboring Claflin College) on the SC State campus. Tempers were running hot two days after students from both Orangeburg colleges protested at a nearby bowling alley after being denied entry due to their skin color. 

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of what became known as the Orangeburg Massacre I assigned students in my Advanced Television Production class to produce a two minute (or so) video on the historic tragedy and what students today have to say about it. 

Here is one of the final videos: 

The students involved in shooting this video are as follows: Tean Becoate, Alvin Brooks, Kyre Cox, Tianna Dawson, Ferrante Dunham, Trendon Howard, Corvosier Mayrant and Skyler Suber. I edited this piece from their footage. The music comes from the free music website incompetech.com.