http://www.timesanddemocrat.com/articles/2010/02/04/news/doc4b6b077a9dd3c497854855.txt
February 04, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO - On Feb. 8, 1968, eight seconds of police gunfire left
three young men dying and at least 28 wounded on the campus of South
Carolina State College at Orangeburg. All of the police were white,
all of the students African-American. Almost all of the victims were
shot from behind as they fled the gunfire.
The shootings were the culmination of four days of student protests
over the desegregation of the city's only bowling alley, located just
minutes from the campus. It was the first time ever that police
opened fire on students on a U.S. campus, yet it remains an almost
unknown event in the history of the American civil rights movement.
Two years later, the killings of four white students at Kent State
University would rock the nation. Unlike the Kent State killings, the
Orangeburg Massacre did not make national headlines nor has there
ever been an official, public report about what occurred that night.
In "Scarred Justice: The Orangeburg Massacre 1968," filmmakers Judy
Richardson and Bestor Cram present the story of a period of
tumultuous social upheaval and the secrecy that continues to shroud
the Massacre and raises questions that are relevant in America's
continuing struggle for racial justice today.
"Scarred Justice: The Orangeburg Massacre 1968" will be broadcast in
February during Black History Month on public television stations
nationwide. The first time is 10 p.m. Feb. 4, followed by 8 p.m. on
Feb. 8 and 5 p.m. on Feb. 28. A special showing was held Monday night
at S.C. State University.
The documentary features interviews with the most important
participants on both sides of the tragedy. These include Dr.
Cleveland Sellers; Robert McNair, then governor; two officers present
during the event; and student witnesses, some speaking publicly for
the first time. Also interviewed are Jack Bass and Jack Nelson, two
prominent Southern white journalists and authors of "The Orangeburg
Massacre," a revealing investigation of the event.
In 1968, Orangeburg was a typical Southern town still clinging to Jim
Crow traditions. The town was home to two black colleges Claflin
and S.C. State and a majority-black population. However, economic
and political power remained exclusively in the hands of the white
community. Minutes from campus sat an all-white bowling alley. After
negotiations failed, demonstrations were mounted, during which police
beat two female students. The incensed students then smashed the
windows of white-owned businesses along the route back to campus.
With scenes of the riots in Detroit and Newark fresh in their minds,
Orangeburg's residents, white businessmen and city officials feared
urban terrorists were now in Orangeburg. The governor sent in the
state police and National Guard.
By late evening of Feb. 8, Army tanks and more than 100 heavily armed
law enforcement officers had cordoned off the campus; 450 more were
stationed downtown. Shortly after a fire truck extinguished the
students' bonfire, highway patrolmen suddenly began firing. When the
shooting was over, at least 28 students lay on State's campus with
multiple buckshot wounds; three others had been killed. South
Carolina claimed police fired in self-defense, and most of the media
believed the state's version. The U.S. attorney general ordered an
FBI investigation, which found no evidence of weapons on the State
College campus.
An annual commemoration has been held at South Carolina State every
year since the Massacre, attended by the families of the slain, the
survivors and many others, in order to ensure that the tragedy is not
forgotten and to continue the demand for an investigation of the event.
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About the filmmaker
Judy Richardson (director/producer) is a senior producer with
Northern Light Productions in Boston, where she produced two History
Channel documentaries (including the two-hour Slave Catchers, Slave
Resisters) as well as various other films. Previously she worked on
Blackside's Academy Award-nominated, 14-hour PBS series Eyes On The
Prize from its first incarnation in 1978 and was education director
for the series. She was also co-producer of Blackside's PBS/American
Experience biography, Malcolm X: Make It Plain. She brings a longtime
involvement with social justice issues to her filmmaking: She was a
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) staffer in the early
1960's for its projects in Mississippi (during 1964's "Freedom
Summer"), Alabama, and Southwest Georgia; an office manager for
Julian Bond (then SNCC's communications director; now chair of the
NAACP) during his successful first campaign for the Georgia House of
Representatives; founder of the largest African-American bookstore in
the late 1960s; and director of information for the United Church of
Christ Commission for Racial Justice, as well as other work. She
lectures nationally, and conducts professional development workshops
for teachers, all focused on the civil rights movement and its
relevance to the issues we face today. She has been published in
several academic journals and is also one of six editors of Hands on
the Freedom Plow: Testimonies of Women in SNCC. The anthology, to be
published by University of Illinois Press in the fall, reveals the
courageous civil rights activism of over 50 women in the southern
freedom movement during the early 1960s.
Bestor Cram (director/producer) has over 20 years of experience as a
director, producer, and cinematographer. He founded Northern Light in
1982 and has built it into one of the premiere documentary production
companies, producing works ranging from broadcast documentaries to
historical, dramatic, and educational media. His most recent
documentary, Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, premiered on PBS last
year. His independent film, Unfinished Symphony, premiered at the
Sundance Film Festival in the Documentary Competition in 2001 and has
won top honors at film festivals around the world. His most recent
independent project, The Special, about the song "The Orange Blossom
Special," premiered at the Nashville Independent Film Festival and
was selected to screen at AFI's SilverDocs Festival. As a
cinematographer, Bestor's credits include the theatrically released
feature documentaries After Innocence, Wrestling with Angels:
Playwright Tony Kushner, the Emmy-nominated Discovery Channel
special, Mysteries of the Sea: Freak Waves, the HBO special, Mumia
Abu-Jamal: A Case For Reasonable Doubt?, the PBS/BBC series, China in
the Red, the 1995 Documentary Academy Award-winner, Maya Lin: A
Strong Clear Vision, and the PBS American Experience on Eleanor
Roosevelt. Bestor holds a B.A. in economics from Denison University,
pursued graduate studies at the West Surrey College of Art and Design
in Guildford, England, and has taught film at MIT and the Maine Film
& Television Workshops. He is a Vietnam Veteran.
About ITVS
The Independent Television Service (ITVS) funds and presents
award-winning documentaries and dramas on public television,
innovative new media projects on the Web, and the Emmy Award-winning
weekly series Independent Lens, which airs Tuesday nights at 10 p.m.
on PBS. ITVS is a miracle of public policy created by media
activists, citizens, and politicians seeking to foster plurality and
diversity in public television. ITVS was established by a historic
mandate of Congress to champion independently produced programs that
take creative risks, spark public dialogue, and provide for
underserved audiences. Since ITVS's inception in 1991, its programs
have revitalized the relationship between the public and public
television, bringing television audiences face-to-face with the lives
and concerns of their fellow Americans. ITVS is funded by the CPB, a
private corporation funded by the American people. For more
information about ITVS, visit itvs.org.
About American Public Television
American Public Television (APT) has been a leading distributor of
high-quality, top-rated programming to America's public television
stations since 1961. In 2009, APT distributed 56 of the top 100
highest-rated public television titles. Among its 300 new program
titles per year are prominent documentaries, dramatic series, how-to
programs, children's series and classic movies, including Spain...on
the road Again, Rick Steves' Europe, Worldfocus, Globe Trekker,
Simply Ming, America's Test Kitchen From Cook's Illustrated, Lidia's
Italy, P. Allen Smith's Garden Home, Murdoch Mysteries, Doc Martin,
Rosemary and Thyme, Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, Liza's at the
Palace…. and John Denver: The Wildlife Concert. APT also licenses
programs internationally through its APT Worldwide service. In 2006,
APT launched Create™, the TV channel featuring the best of public
television's lifestyle programming. For more information about APT's
programs and services, visit APTonline.org.
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