(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.

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.