Documentary Premiere: Orangeburg, 50 Years Later

Important Note: This event will take place at Wells Fargo Auditorium on the lower level of Knight Theater (430 South Tryon Street).

A little-known story of the civil rights movement, bloody violence unfolded 130 miles from Charlotte on the campus of South Carolina State University in Orangeburg. Three students were shot to death and more than two dozen injured at the hands of the South Carolina Highway Patrol on February 8, 1968, simply because black students wanted to integrate an all-white bowling alley.

Join the Gantt Center, renowned civil rights photographer Cecil Williams – who chronicled the events – and WBTV's Steve Crump for the documentary premiere of Orangeburg, 50 Years Later. Following the screening and discussion, Williams will sign copies of his latest book, Unforgettable: Life Hope Bravery, which documents both the Orangeburg Massacre and the civil rights movement in South Carolina.

The documentary will air on WBTV and Bounce on February 8, 7:00 - 8:00 PM.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKER

Steve Crump is an award-winning African-American journalist, documentary film producer, and current television reporter for WBTV. A native of Louisville, Kentucky, he first went to work at WBTV in 1984. He left the station after three years, but returned in 1989.

Crump has been described as the station’s institutional memory, having reported on many of the major events that shaped modern Charlotte, but may be more widely known for his Emmy Award® winning documentaries with subjects ranging from Apartheid in South Africa to civil rights in the American South. He has also garnered a number of other awards including four National Headliner Awards, the Gabriel Award, and more than a dozen first-place honors from the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ). In 2016, NABJ named him their “Journalist of the Year."

ABOUT CECIL WILLIAMS AND UNFORGETTABLE

An Orangeburg, SC native, Cecil Williams began working as a professional and freelance photojournalist for Jet Magazine at age fourteen.  He is lauded as one of the country’s most accomplished visual artists and has worked as a professional photographer, author and architect, but may be best known as a chronicler of the civil-rights era. Williams’ photographs have been featured in hundreds of books, newspapers, and television documentaries.

Unforgettable is an extraordinary collection of images and stories celebrating 50 years of South Carolina African-American history, heritage and culture. The book contains many never-before-published photographs and encompasses many South Carolina milestones including Harvey Gantt at Clemson University, the Clarendon County Briggs v. Elliott petition, the rise of student activism, the Orangeburg fight for freedom and massacre and the Charleston hospital workers' strike.

Important Note: To receive discounted parking, please park in the Duke Energy garage (101 W. Stonewall Street entrance) or The Green garage (435 S. Tryon Street).