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Forgotten martyrs
of the Orangeburg
MASSACRE
By Monica Moorehead
Few people have heard of the
1968 Orangeburgmassacre. One
hastosearch highand low tofind
information on this event, com
pared to other civil-rights devel
opments during the 19605.
For example, whole books
hmboenwriwenont:n;rd‘Sdma
to Montgomery, Ala. in
1965 and the Birmingham, Ala.
church bombings in 1963.
What was this massacre and
what is its significance for to
day?
Inspired hy sit-ins
First of all, it is important to
go back some eight years ear
lier, to Feb. 8, 1960.
The sit-in protests initiated
by the African-American stu
dent movement against racist
segregation began in Greens
boro, N.C. These protests,
which implemented the non
violent tactics developed dur
ing the 1950 s in the Montgom
ery bus boycott, spread
throughout the South, includ
ing South Carolina.
In central South Carolina is
the small city of Orangeburg,
home to South Carolina State
University, a predominantly
Black public college. The im-
African Americans in Augusta history
1892, Mauge Street Grammar
. School founded
1892 - Mauge Street Grammar School
founded on April 1. Prior to its opening,
there were few public schools in Augusta
for blacks. Among its early faculty staff
were Prof. A.R. Johnson, principal, and
the Rev. Silas X. Floyd, assistant princi
pal. Ursula E. Collins was one of the first
teachers. All three eventually had Augus
ta schools named after them in the mod
ern era. ;
In 1899, the Mauge Street school burned
down. The students’ education was not
interrupted, however, because Lucy C.
Laney, whoso campus was just across the
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Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
member Cleveland Sellers (center) was wounded in the
Orangeburg violence. Here Seliers is shown in Atlanta
in 1967, a year before the incident. Stokely Carmichael
(now Kwame Touré) is pictured second from left.
pact of all the sit-in protests in
Greensboro did not escape
Orangeburg. South Carolina
State students organized a pro
test of athousand people against
racism in February 1960.
As a result, the racist au
thoritiesarrested 350 students,
placing them in an open-air
stockade in the rain. In a city
that even today numbers no
more than 14,000, this was a
significant demonstration. In
one account, the students sang
patrioticsongsand held a prayer
meetingduringtheir detention.
1898, Dr. James E. Carter Sr. beco‘mes
first licensed dentist
1898 - James E. Carter Sr. becomes the first
licensed dentist practicing in Augusta. He. prac
ticed from an office on Broad Street on a lot now
occupied by the Ramada Plaza Hotel. The office
burned in a 1906 fire and Dr. Carter opened a new
office at the intersection of Fifth and Broad streets.
1898 - Pilgrim Benevolent Aid Association is
conceived at the Spring Hill Baptist Church in
Blythe, Ga. Solomon W. Walker, the Rev. Thomas
J.Hornsby, ThomasJ. Walker, Walter S. Hornsby,
and Dr. J.C. Collier collaborated on the project. It
I§3l
Nomwislnt Coveilnating O
onviolent inating Com
mittee was founded. Its roots
sprang from the sit-in experi
ences in the South among stu
dents from mostly Black col
leges.
During the early days of
SNCC, its main political orien
tation was to conduct mass
struggles in the South as well
as the North for basic demo
cratic rights within the frame
work of bourgeois legality.
Nonviolent resistanceto the vio
lent reactions from the white
1898, Pilgrim Life formed
AUGUSTA FOCUS BLACK HISTORY SUPPLEMENT © WINTER 1998
police and the repressive state
in general was ingrained into
every SNCC organizer whowas
sent toorganizeothers on Black
oolhpcnmpugl.
But that political orientation
shifted in a progressive direc
tion in May 1966 when Stokely
Carmichael (now Kwame
Toure) became the chairperson
of SNCC and raised a new slo
gan: “Black Power.” This slo
gan meant many things tomany
cakingnridedtrons's Al .
tage to challenging the racist sta-
Black Power movement
One thing is for sure. The
“Black Power” era electrified
the Black masses in the coun
try and especially on Black col
lege campuses and sent shock
waves throughout the capital
ist government.
At South Carolina State Uni
versity, the students had orga
nized the Black Awareness Co
ordinating Committee. Itwasa
militant group that countered
the more moderate program of
the NAACP campus chapter
and was a loose affiliate of
SNCC.
The BACC worked closely
with SNCC field official Cleve
land Sellers on asuccessful boy
cott of classes to protest reac
tionary campus rules and the
dismissal of progressive white
teachers.
OnFeb. 5, 1968, the students
protested against a lily-white
bowling alley. The students
organizedanotherprotest when
white city officials refused to
meet their demands.
On Feb. 7, the students be
gan to rebel in the streets by
attacking police cars. The re
bellionlasted untilthe nextday.
The police, along with the
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National Guard, were called in
to occupy the campus. The
police began to fire upon the
unarmed students as they sat
~around a bonfire seeking
warmth. Three students were
S ;&dfyfiem
o news
accounts circulated the false
_hood that a student had fired
‘on a police officer. No gun was
.ever produced.
City and state officialsblamed
Sellers and the BACC, already
under FBI surveillance, for “in
citing a riot.” Sellers was ar
rested and indicted on these
bogus charges, but was never
brought to trial.
After a federal investigation,
nine members of the state po
were later acquitted on the fed
eral charges of depriving dem
onstrators of their constitu
tional rights.
These acquittals gave racist
cops throughout the South the
green light to murder in cold
blood any oppressed person who
fought back.
The Orangeburg massacre
exposed the terrorist role of the
state in capitalist society of
keeping the most oppressed dis
enfranchised. Butitalsoshows
how social consciousness is el
evated by the struggle.
The BACC was much influ
enced by SNCCaswell asby the
teachings of Malcolm X. The
lessons of the Watts rebellion
in 1965 and other uprisings
were not lost on these heroic
students.
~ Theirstrugglescan’tbefound
in the mainstream history
books. But they will never be
forgotten and will inspire fu
ture generations.
This article is reprinted from
the Feb. 9, 1995 issue of
Worker’s World, page seven.
- Dent’s Undertaking
Establishment founded
1888 - Dent’s Undertak
ing Establishment is
founded.
It is the first black-owned
funeral businessin Augusta,
Dent’s Undertaking Estab
lishment was founded by
John and Julia Dent in a
wooden building on the cor
ner of Ninth and Barnes
streets. In 1900, the couple
moved their business to its
present location at 930
D’Antignac St.
7