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Morning News

Remembering Orangeburg

Aired February 8, 2001 - 11:14 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Now we're going to go ahead and focus on a college campus that saw a deadly clash between students and authorities on this very day. It was 33 years ago. And we're not talking Kent State or Berkeley; we're talking South Carolina State, in the town of Orangeburg.

There, on February 8th, 1968, three students were killed, 27 were injured when highway patrolmen fired into a crowd of civil rights demonstrators.

Joining us now from Orangeburg, South Carolina, is our Brian Cabell -- Brian.

BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

I think if you ask most Americans who are 30 years old or older what happened at Kent State in 1970, they would be able to tell you something, that students were shot to death on campus while involved in a protest.

But as you say, if you ask them what happened at South Carolina State in 1968 here in Orangeburg, most people would draw a blank. They really don't know what happened. It's been pretty much dismissed by American historians. And yet, what happened here at South Carolina State and what happened at Penn State were remarkably similar.

We're going to have a memorial service here today involving the governor and some survivors of the so-called "Orangeburg Massacre," in hopes of trying to remind people what happened here and prevent it from ever happening again.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): Some call it the Orangeburg Massacre. Others consider it little more than an unfortunate incident that occurred on a college campus.

It's clearly one of the least remembered chapters in this nation's civil rights history. Three young men -- 18-year-old Henry Smith, 18-year-old Samuel Hammond and 17-year-old Delano Middleton -- died when they and fellow students came under fire from the South Carolina State Highway Patrol.

LEROY DAVIS, S.C. STATES UNIV. PRESIDENT: These were college students. They were not violent. I knew many of these students, and they were just typical 18-, 19-, 20-year-old kids.

CABELL: But they were angry kids, angry at a bowling alley near the South Carolina State campus that remained segregated in 1968. For three nights, they protested at the bowling alley and on campus. Some were arrested, some injured.

On the fourth night, they started a bonfire, which authorities put out. One officer was injured by a banister thrown at him. More students gathered to face the armed officers.

And then, it started.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gunfire went off. I heard nothing that preceded it. There were no warnings, anything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What actually started the shooting was a highway patrolman fired his car beam in the air a couple of times, intending it as warning shots. And others started shooting.

CABELL: Not only were the three students killed, but 27 of their friends and classmates at South Carolina State and nearby Claflin University were wounded.

Thirty-three years later, students here, who never had to fight segregation, do remember the so-called "Orangeburg Massacre."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think we would have did the same thing if we really were fighting for something that we wanted to happen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, you can't help but admire those guys. They were martyrs.

CABELL: Martyrs? Or ordinary students tragically caught in the wrong place at the wrong time? Either way, the story of those three young men and their battle over a bowling alley is little known by most.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABELL: After the shootings, nine patrolmen were brought up on federal charges. They were acquitted. One of the demonstrators was brought up on rioting charges related to a demonstration a couple of days earlier. He was eventually convicted on that one charge. He served some time in prison. He was eventually pardoned.

But I think most here in South Carolina would agree that what happened here that fateful night was a horrible, tragic mistake. And they're hoping to prevent it from ever happening again.

This memorial service that they're having here in about 15 minutes is an attempt by them to heal the wounds after 33 years.

I'm Brian Cabell, CNN, live in Orangeburg, South Carolina.

KAGAN: Brian, thank you very much.

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