A group of black students walks across the stage, discussing their plans to go bowling for the evening. Not an extraordinary topic of conversation for young people -- if the scene were set in 2010.

But it's 42 years ago. The town is Orangeburg, and the group is making its way from South Carolina State College to All Star Bowling Lanes, just blocks away from campus. Their voices are filled with passion and resolution -- tonight will be the night they are allowed to enter All Star, bowl a game or two and order from the canteen, side-by-side with their white peers.

It's early February 1968, just days before the tragic event that has become known as the Orangeburg Massacre.

This scene is from the original stage play "Taking a Stand," written and directed by South Carolina State University senior Calhoun Cornwell, which will be staged at 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 4-6, at the Martin Luther King Jr. Auditorium on the campus of S.C. State. The production is part of the Student Government Association's week-long 42nd commemoration of the Orangeburg Massacre.



Produced by the Henderson-Davis Players, "Taking a Stand" is based on months of research and interviews outlining the events leading up to, during and immediately following the Feb. 8, 1968, incident.

That night, tensions in Orangeburg -- fueled by years of segregation, stoked by the black students being consistently denied entry to the bowling alley and on the heels of student protests decrying the separation -- reached a tipping point. A civil rights demonstration and bonfire was under way at S.C. State, and highway patrolmen had been posted on the campus perimeter.

Tempers flared. Events spiraled out of control, and shots rang out. Demonstrators scrambled for safety as buckshot scattered into the crowd during the nearly 10 seconds of terror.

In the end, S.C. State students Henry Smith and Samuel Hammond and high school student Delano Middleton were killed, and more than two dozen others were wounded.

Playwright Cornwell said he had heard of the Orangeburg Massacre prior to his time at S.C. State but didn't know much about it. Cornwell was born in Orangeburg and reared in Columbia.

"I realized when I came back my freshman year how important it was, but the in-depth of how much it hurt people, I didn't get that until I started researching it," he said. "The wounds are still open. ... People who it happened to, some of them don't come back to Orangeburg. Some of them can't even drive past the exit sign (on the interstate)."

Cornwell has been writing stage plays since his junior year in high school, and he doesn't shy away from tough topics. His first was about a young man who backs away from his Christian upbringing and joins a gang.

"It took me approximately two to three months -- a lot of long nights" to write "Taking a Stand," he said. "This is pretty much as detailed as possible. We took so many angles -- everybody's angle, not just the black side."

"It is a student interpretation based on historical evidence and facts," said Zachary Delano Middleton, a senior from Orangeburg who portrays his uncle and namesake Delano Middleton in the production.

"We didn't come out of left field with this, at all. This is based off South Carolina State archives, and we're just trying to recreate it."

Briauna Perry, a junior from Rock Hill who portrays a student named Ethel, said she doesn't want the production to "turn into a blacks-against-whites thing."

"In the play ... you see how white police officers hurt, they have feelings, they have hearts," she said. "It's not just about white against black. It was just the wrong thing happened at the wrong time. It was just an unfortunate accident.

"It shouldn't have happened, but it did, so you have to realize it for what it was. ... It was just inhumane."

Portraying All Star's owner Harry Floyd is Bo McBratnie, who said people need to forget the racial aspect of the Orangeburg Massacre.

"Just understand this was the way it was, and we don't need to make a big deal of the racial part but make a big deal of how far we've come," said McBratnie, who also portrays one of the state troopers in "Taking a Stand" and is one of the few non-students in the play. "If people forget about the white and black thing and look at its historical value to everybody, then it will be a great thing."

S.C. State junior Lawrence Nelson said while conducting interviews and researching his role as Hammond, he had the opportunity to speak with people who were on the scene the night of or had a direct connection to the incident.

"Every time they talk about their loss or what happened, they still get choked up," the Jacksonville, Fla., native said. "This happened 42 years ago, and they still hurt."

"Being in character is just emotional," Perry said. "It takes a toll on you because you are human, you feel these feelings, and just to think somebody has (gone) through this and had to bear that burden, and still is ... "

Freshman Arielle Davenport, of Lithonia, Ga., who portrays a student named Emma, said being a part of the production has made her see just how "real" the Orangeburg Massacre was.

"Some people don't really understand what went on in the minds of these students," she said. "This will really get ... the people to understand that the students really cared, the students really had feelings, the students really hurt from this whole situation, and to this day, are pretty much still hurting."

Most of those interviewed said they hadn't heard of the incident prior to attending S.C. State.

"It's really hidden, it's really secretive, it's like they don't want anybody to know about it because it was a mistake on both (sides)," Perry said. "When something bad and traumatic happens, it's like everybody shuts down and doesn't want to talk about it. The healing process has never started.

"Like the saying goes, if you don't know where you've been, you can't know where you're going. And in the little city of Orangeburg, there's no progression. It's still South Carolina State students, and then Orangeburg. You can feel the separation; it's not like an invitation into the community."

Aside from increasing awareness about the incident, Middleton said for him, the most important reason for bringing the Orangeburg Massacre to the stage is, "It's who we are right now."

"There are a lot of issues that we've dealt with 42 years ago, in 1968, that we're still dealing with today, and we wanted to kind of provide a wake-up call (as to) how this scene parallels life today ... and at the same time, educate our students. That's what it's all about," he said. "Once you hear this actual story, (I hope) it will drive you ... to learn more about what actually happened, what transpired, not only in the Orangeburg Massacre, but also the Orangeburg Freedom Movement ... a period of time from 1955 to 1968 that led up to the Orangeburg Massacre.

"It wasn't just one night, all of a sudden this thing happened. It was a trickle effect that started with the movement that predated the Greensboro (North Carolina) sit-ins, that predated a lot of things early on in the civil rights movement."

Charlie Jones III, a junior from Charlotte, N.C., who portrays Smith, said reading about the event and seeing it come to life on the stage are two totally different things.

"When you read something, it's like, 'OK, I know it, but I'm going to forget it,'" he said. "This is something that you're going to remember. That's what we're going to try to put on the stage -- something that you can remember.

"I just want everybody to come with an open mind, an open heart, and just really pay attention to what's being portrayed on stage."

Cornwell said he warned the cast beforehand of the backlash that might occur from producing "Taking a Stand."

"Me personally, if the play goes on, and one person says, 'Now I understand it more, I really took something from it, I really learned from it,' then my job is done," he said. "I could care less about what everybody else said if one person got it.

"You got to look at where we were and where we are and realize that you're here because somebody fought for you, and because somebody fought for your rights. We have to appreciate the fact that people were brave enough to stand up for you and were brave enough to fight for you, and even though they're not here anymore, that doesn't mean you forget about them -- their memories should live on through you because you're living what they fought for."

Half of the proceeds from the production of "Taking a Stand" will go to the university's SGA Orangeburg Massacre Social Mobility Scholarship to help students purchase books, Middleton said. The other half will go to the Henderson-Davis Players.

Tickets are $5 in advance for students and $10 general admission. Tickets will also be available at the door for $7 for students and $12 general admission. For tickets or more information, call 803-536-8815 or 803-378-1917, or visit scsu.edu.

T&D Features Editor Wendy Jeffcoat Crider can be reached by e-mail at wjeffcoat@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5546. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

The week's events

Feb. 1 -- "Scarred Justice" documentary screening. 7 p.m. I.P. Stanback Museum and Planetarium.

Feb. 2 -- Campus Bowling Night. 6 p.m. K.W. Green Student Center.

Feb. 3 -- Spoken Word Wednesday: Student Oratorical Contest. 7 p.m. Bulldog Lounge.

Feb. 4-6 -- "Taking a Stand" stage play. 7 p.m. Martin Luther King Jr. Auditorium.

Feb. 6 -- "The March for Progress." 4 p.m. K.W. Green Student Center.

Feb. 8 -- 42nd Orangeburg Massacre Ceremony. 4 p.m. Martin Luther King Jr. Auditorium.

(All events are on the campus of South Carolina State University.)

If you go ...

What: "Taking a Stand," an original stage play based on historic accounts of the event that has become known as the Orangeburg Massacre

When: 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 4-6

Where: Martin Luther King Jr. Auditorium, South Carolina State University

Tickets: $5 in advance for students and $10 general admission; $7 at the door for students and $12 general admission

For tickets or more information, call 803-536-8815 or 803-378-1917, or visit scsu.edu.

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