COLUMBIA, SC (WACH/AP) - Wednesday marked the 44th anniversary of the incident known as the Orangeburg Massacre.
On Feb. 8, 1968, state troopers and police opened fire on a group of students who were protesting a segregated bowling alley after a tense standoff. None of the officers were injured.
Friends and family of those lost and injured returned to South Carolina State University Wednesday to honor the memory of Henry Smith, Samuel Hammond and Delano Middleton who died in the incident.
Thomas Kennerly was shot three times during the protest. On Wednesday, Kennerly spoke to a crowd of roughly 100 people about the importance of making sure the next generation understands the anniversary of that tragic day.
“I’m trying to get them to internalize the importance of history and to know how history can have the tendency to repeat itself if we’re not careful," said Kennerly.
An FBI investigation led to charges against nine troopers in the case, but a jury of 10 whites and two blacks acquitted them. Federal agents refused to reopen the case in 2007.
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