ORANGEBURG SC FEBRUARY 8 1965

Several incidents centering on the segregation of the local bowling alley, All-Star Bowling Lane, led up to the Orangeburg Massacre on February 8, 1968. In the fall of 1967, some of the black leaders within the community tried to convince Harry K. Floyd, the owner of the bowling alley, to allow African Americans. Floyd was unwilling to desegregate, and as a result, protests began in early February 1968.

On February 5, 1968, a group of around 40 students from South Carolina State University entered the bowling alley and left peacefully after they were asked to leave by Floyd.^[3] The next night more students led by John Stroman returned and entered the bowling alley. This time police were waiting for them, and several students were detained, including Stroman. After the arrests, more students began showing up, angry that protesters were being arrested. Next, the crowd broke a window of the bowling alley, and chaos ensued. Police began beating student protesters (both men and women) with billy clubs. That night, eight students were sent to the hospital.

Over the next few days, the tension in Orangeburg escalated. Student protesters submitted a list of demands for integration and eliminating discrimination within the community. The Governor of South Carolina at the time, Robert E. McNair, responded by calling in the National Guard after commenting that black power advocates were running amok in the community.^[5] Over the next two days, about 200 mostly student protesters gathered on the campus of South Carolina State University, a historically black college in Orangeburg, to demonstrate against the continued segregation at the bowling alley.