Civil rights photographer Cecil Williams speaks at the commemoration of the Orangeburg Massacre.

Orangeburg historian and photojournalist Cecil J. Williams says the sacrifices of Henry Smith, Samuel Hammond and Delano Middleton should be remembered.

“We must never forget their sacrifices. We must never forget they paid it with their blood and loss of life. It is indelibly stamped upon all of us,” Williams said Wednesday.

“This was Black resistance, just like our theme today. Resistance is an important meaning, a milestone of winding struggle through time towards freedom, justice and equality towards our goal of overcoming remaining racism in this country,” Williams said.

Williams spoke during South Carolina State University’s commemoration of the 55th anniversary of the Orangeburg Massacre.

During the course of his speech, Williams presented photos that he took during the days leading up to the Orangeburg Massacre.

People are also reading…

“It is in their honor that I do this to make sure that their legacy, their sacrifices will never be forgotten,” Williams said.

Smith, Hammond and Middleton were killed on Feb. 8, 1968 when S.C. Highway Patrol troopers opened fire on a crowd of protesters following three nights of escalating racial tension over efforts to desegregate the All-Star Triangle Bowl. In addition, 28 others were injured.

Nine state patrolmen were charged with using excessive force by the federal government and were acquitted.

Williams noted, “This was not Korea or Vietnam. This is on the campus of South Carolina State University. An HBCU with a proud history and it had been invaded by our police officers, our law enforcement.”

The families of Delano Middleton and Henry Smith spoke about the importance of having the ceremony each year.

“This is an opportunity for them (current students) to take something with them and know the sacrifices of what people did in order for them to have those small luxuries that we take for granted sometimes right now,” said Jennifer Johnson, a relative of Henry Smith.

Germaine Middleton said the event is important for the family. It’s a reminder that her uncle, Delano Middleton, died for a purpose.

“As we’ve seen, a lot of injustice still exists in our country. I think that this just rejuvenates us just to keep going and keep fighting, so that his death and the death of the elders would not be in vain,” Middleton said.

S.C. State President Alex Conyers said the event honors the families of the people who lost their lives.

“Today was all about them, while educating our students on our past history, in hopes that we can put things in place so that it never happens again,” Conyers said.

Also, “We recognize the sacrifices of those families and we still have family members that travel distances to get here. We owe it to them, this is the least we can do each year is to honor the loss of their loved ones, to honor those lives that have been shattered,” Conyers said.

Three were honored with Smith-Hammond-Middleton Social Justice Awards: Ellen Zisholtz, president of the Center for Creative Partnerships; Bobby Doctor, an S.C. State alumnus and civil rights advocate; and the late Bobby Eaddy, an Orangeburg Massacre survivor.

Terry Benjamin II, a Claflin University mass communications senior, is reporting for The Times and Democrat as a Lee Enterprises-sponsored news-sports intern.

#lee-rev-content { margin:0 -5px; } #lee-rev-content h3 { font-family: inherit!important; font-weight: 700!important; border-left: 8px solid var(–lee-blox-link-color); text-indent: 7px; font-size: 24px!important; line-height: 24px; } #lee-rev-content .rc-provider { font-family: inherit!important; } #lee-rev-content h4 { line-height: 24px!important; font-family: “serif-ds”,Times,”Times New Roman”,serif!important; margin-top: 10px!important; } @media (max-width: 991px) { #lee-rev-content h3 { font-size: 18px!important; line-height: 18px; } } #pu-email-form-breaking-email-article { clear: both; background-color: #fff; color: #222; background-position: bottom; background-repeat: no-repeat; padding: 15px 0 20px; margin-bottom: 40px; border-top: 4px solid rgba(0,0,0,.8); border-bottom: 1px solid rgba(0,0,0,.2); display: none; } #pu-email-form-breaking-email-article, #pu-email-form-breaking-email-article p { font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, “Segoe UI”, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, “Apple Color Emoji”, “Segoe UI Emoji”, “Segoe UI Symbol”; } #pu-email-form-breaking-email-article h2 { font-size: 24px; margin: 15px 0 5px 0; font-family: “serif-ds”, Times, “Times New Roman”, serif; } #pu-email-form-breaking-email-article .lead { margin-bottom: 5px; } #pu-email-form-breaking-email-article .email-desc { font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 5px; opacity: 0.7; } #pu-email-form-breaking-email-article form { padding: 10px 30px 5px 30px; } #pu-email-form-breaking-email-article .disclaimer { opacity: 0.5; margin-bottom: 0; line-height: 100%; } #pu-email-form-breaking-email-article .disclaimer a { color: #222; text-decoration: underline; } #pu-email-form-breaking-email-article .email-hammer { border-bottom: 3px solid #222; opacity: .5; display: inline-block; padding: 0 10px 5px 10px; margin-bottom: -5px; font-size: 16px; } @media (max-width: 991px) { #pu-email-form-breaking-email-article form { padding: 10px 0 5px 0; } }

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes:

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>