THREE DEAD IN SOUTH CAROLINA: STUDENT RADICALIZATION AND THE FORGOTTEN ORANGEBURG MASSACRE A thesis submitted To Kent State University in partial Fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts by Kimberly Dawn Stahler May, 2018 Thesis written by Kimberly Stahler B.S., Frostburg State University, 2012 M.A., Kent State University, 2018 Approved by Kenneth Bindas_________________________, Advisor Brian Hayashi _________________________, Chair, Department of History James Blank _________________________, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... iv INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................................1 CHAPTER Page I RAISING RADICAL YOUTHS .......................................................................................16 II DIVERGING FROM REALITY .......................................................................................55 III CONTINUED RACIAL TENSIONS ................................................................................89 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................117 NOTES .........................................................................................................................................123 SOURCES CONSULTED ...........................................................................................................140 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Everyone who knows me is aware that I am driven, focused, and determined. These personality traits have helped me achieve my goals, but the help I have received from others along the way proved to be more valuable to me than those traits. I could not have completed this project without the assistance and support I received from others. I am forever indebted to too many people to lay them all out here. However, I would like to thank all of those who read through drafts and talked through ideas throughout my time working on this thesis in addition to those mentioned below. All of the professors that I worked with during my time at Kent State University have helped me achieve my academic goals, but I would like to extend a special thanks to those who worked with me on my thesis. I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Kenneth Bindas. Thank you for the direction, advice, and support that you provided me along the way. I appreciate that you always made time for me whenever I needed to work through my own thoughts. I am also grateful for all the work that the members of my thesis committee put into overseeing this project: Dr. Leslie Heaphy, Dr. Zachary Williams, and Dr. Patrick Coy. Dr. Leslie Heaphy read drafts of my work throughout my writing process, and her feedback proved to greatly benefit my thesis. Dr. Zachary Williams helped me engage with the current scholarship on gender and the civil rights movement and broadened my understanding of identity. Dr. Patrick Coy helped me approach my research from an interdisciplinary lens, which rounded out the perspective that my thesis takes. iv I also am indebted to others academics and library professionals who helped me accomplish this project. Dr. Leonne Hudson introduced me to my case study and helped me work through my research throughout my time at Kent State University. Archivist Avery Daniels from the Miller F. Whittaker Library provided me with invaluable help with my primary source research which made this project possible. I appreciate every email that Daniels responded to and every source that he brought to my attention that I did not know existed. Further, a special thanks goes to Dr. William C. Hine for agreeing to an interview with me and for answering numerous emails to clarify some of the discrepancies that I found during my research. His insight and attention helped make this project into what it is. I am forever indebted to those who put tireless effort into saving and preserving the documents surrounding the Orangeburg Massacre: those who conducted and participated in the Orangeburg Massacre Oral History Project, those who wrote the grant proposal that funded the project and the process of cataloguing the documents in the Orangeburg Massacre Collection at the Miller F. Whitaker Library, and those who continue to participate in the annual commemorations and who keep the memory of the massacre alive. It would be impossible to list all of the friends and family members who helped me complete this thesis. However, special thanks are due to my sister Bethany Stahler and my brother-in-law Larry Nehring for helping me mentally and physically survive this project. To everyone who read drafts, who talked through ideas, and who provided ample amounts of encouragement, thank you, I could not have done this without you. When I started working on this project, gun violence in schools and police brutality targeting African Americans were major problems in America. The work of Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, Opal Tometi, and so many others is truly inspirational and impactful. Additionally, in the last few months there has been a student movement growing that is v demanding change from American politicians and the American public who have accepted the constant presence of school shootings in the news. I dedicate this thesis to all the young students who are standing up to ensure that their classrooms are a safe place for learning and to the often overlooked radical women who have built the foundation of grassroots organizing networks that are fighting for social justice in America. vi INTRODUCTION On February 8, 1968, hundreds of African American students from South Carolina State College (SCSC) and Claflin College gathered around a bonfire on Watson Street in Orangeburg, South Carolina, singing “We Shall Overcome.” Across the street, a group of almost exclusively white law enforcement officers from the South Carolina National Guard, the South Carolina Highway Patrol, and the local Orangeburg Police stood armed. After the bonfire grew, an officer called the fire department to prevent the flames from endangering the power lines. When the fire truck arrived, the National Guardsmen advanced into the street to protect the fire truck. The students began to retreat to their dormitories as the Highway Patrolmen crossed the street and stopped in an embankment at the edge of the SCSC campus. Suddenly, nine Highway Patrol officers fired their pump-action shot guns loaded with buckshot into the retreating crowd.1 The shooting lasted less than ten seconds, and in that time at least thirty-one students sustained injuries. Later, Samuel Hammond, Henry Smith, and Delano Middleton died from their wounds. After the firing stopped, chaos continued on campus as those who were able helped the most severely injured to reach the infirmary. Most of the wounded students were hit in their backs or the bottoms of their feet. Field organizer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Cleveland Sellers later told reporters that because the patrolmen “shot as low as they could and a number of students fell to the ground…they could have killed 75 percent of them right then if they wanted to.”2 Rosemary Brooks, a senior at SCSC, was one of the many black community members who helped the injured students find safety in the aftermath. Later she remembered, “that night was the worst night of my life. Never have I seen so much 1 bloodshed. Never have I seen so much heartbreak and terror… one student was shot in the mouth and part of his tongue was ripped out.”3 National movement leaders expressed their outrage at the use of deadly force from South Carolina’s law enforcement agencies during this peaceful protest. After a federal judge ordered the bowling alley to integrate in the weeks following the massacre, SNCC leader, H. Rap Brown stated, “as usual the Justice Department is acting in a faint-hearted manner after the blood of black youth has flowed in the streets. Three dead and 50 injured is too high a price to pay for a goddamn bowling alley.”4 After the shooting ended, the law enforcement officers continued to block Watson street, which intersected with the sole entrance to the SCSC campus. No ambulances were called to help the injured and dying students. Officers dragged Henry Smith and Delano Middleton, who would die soon after, towards their police cars. Four students later testified that they witnessed a patrolman use the butt of his gun to strike Smith. The sole nurse on duty that evening in the infirmary was quickly overwhelmed with the number of students who needed medical attention. Most of the students needed more care than she could provide. Arleathia Jones, and other SCSC students who had cars, drove the severely injured students to the local segregated hospital. Frankie Thomas, Jordan Simmons, and Charles Hildebrand were a few of the students who remembered that once they were admitted to the hospital they did not receive any care and needed to seek medical attention in other nearby hospitals the following day. Even today, some of the surviving students, including Ernest Shuler, continue to carry buckshot pellets in their bodies.5 After the massacre ended, tensions between the law enforcement officers and the students seemed to dissipate. The