SC State to commemorate 58th anniversary of Orangeburg Massacre on Sunday, Feb. 8

The university will cut the ribbon on its recently renovated historic bowling alley following the program.

ORANGEBURG, S.C. – South Carolina State University will commemorate the 58th anniversary of the Orangeburg Massacre on Sunday, Feb. 8, beginning at 1 p.m. in the Martin Luther King Jr. Auditorium on campus.

The public is invited.

SC State alumnus Michael A. Allen, a preservationist and retired National Park Service community partnership specialist, will deliver the keynote address. President Alexander Conyers will also present the university’s annual Smith-Hammond-Middleton Social Justice Awards.

Following the program, the commemoration will move to Smith-Hammond-Middleton Legacy Plaza for a brief torch lighting ceremony with the families of the three young men killed in the massacre.

In a related event immediately after the ceremony, SC State will cut the ribbon on Bulldog Lanes, the university’s recently renovated historic bowling alley in the Kirkland W. Green University Center. The lanes were built in response to the Orangeburg Massacre, which resulted from a student protest over the segregation of Orangeburg’s only bowling alley.

Bulldog Lanes will be home to SC State's newly restored women's bowling team while serving as a recreational facility for the SC State student body. Community bowling hours also will be posted.

About the Orangeburg Massacre

On the night of Feb. 8, 1968, Henry Smith, Samuel Hammond and Delano Middleton were killed when police opened fire on some 200 unarmed Black students who were demonstrating in the name of integrating a local bowling alley. Another 28 protesters were wounded. Smith and Hammond were both enrolled at SC State, and Middleton was a 17-year-old student at Wilkinson High School in Orangeburg.

Each year on Feb. 8, the university honors Smith, Hammond and Middleton, their families and the survivors of what has become known as the Orangeburg Massacre.

At the 2022 commemoration, the university dedicated a new monument enshrined with bronze likenesses of the three men as an additional aspect of Smith-Hammond-Middleton Legacy Plaza. The busts were sculpted by internationally known artist Dr. Tolulope Filani, chair of the SC State Department of Visual and Performing Arts.

The university’s convocation center/basketball arena also is named for Smith, Hammond and Middleton.

About Michael A. Allen

Allen grew up in Kingstree, South Carolina. He earned a degree in history education from South Carolina State College in 1982. He began his public service career with the National Park Service in 1980 as a cooperative education student.

Allen serves as a community preservation specialist at his alma mater, now South Carolina State University. At SC State, he manages a National Park Service HBCU grant supporting the restoration and rehabilitation of Wilkinson Hall, one of the university’s oldest campus structures. He ensures compliance with grant guidelines and oversees required reporting. His tenure with the National Park Service fostered a strong collaborative relationship between the university and the agency.

Over the course of his career, Allen served as a park ranger, education specialist and community partnership specialist for the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor, Fort Sumter National Monument and Charles Pinckney National Historic Site. In 2014, he was appointed by the National Park Service as a lead team member on the Special Resource Study exploring the history and legacy of the Reconstruction era in American history. As a result of that effort, Reconstruction Era National Monument was established by presidential proclamation on Jan. 12, 2017.

After 37½ years of public service, Allen retired from the National Park Service in December 2017. He is the husband of Latanya Prather and the father of Brandon, Shaelyn and Isaiah. He resides in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, where he remains active in community affairs.