The victims’ families joined SC State President Alexander Conyers in lighting torches in remembrance of slain students Henry Smith, Samuel Hammond and Delano Middleton at the campus Orangeburg Massacre memorial.
South Carolina State University on Saturday presented the Smith-Hammond-Middleton Social Justice Awards to Thomas L. “Jackie” Kennerly and Dr. Willis Ham as the university commemorated the 57th anniversary of the Orangeburg Massacre.
Both men were seniors at SC State on Feb. 8, 1968, when state police opened fire on a crowd of unarmed students demonstrating in the name of integrating a local bowling alley. The shots killed three and wounded at least 28 others, including Kennerly.
Ham, who led the South Carolina Human Affairs Commission from 1992-2000, served as keynote speaker for Saturday’s commemoration. He shared how the Orange-
SC State President Alexander Conyers presents the Smith-Hammond-Middleton Social Justice Award to Thomas Kennerly.
burg Massacre affected his work in civil rights.
“Fundamentally, the entire experience left an indelible mark on my mind and
my heart,” Ham said following the commemoration. “I feel like every time I see the monument, and every time we celebrate these young me, I am seeing them for the first time. I am seeing them just as they were in 1968.”
Ham, who had just returned to his dormitory from an athletics trip when he was informed of the tragedy, recalled his interactions with the three slain young men, SC State students Henry Smith and Samuel Hammond and high school senior Delano Middleton.
Hammond was Ham’s football protégé, and he met Middleton through the teenager’s mother, who was employed on the campus.
Although he knew Smith – or “Smitty” as he was known – to a lesser extent, Ham described him as “the life of the party.”
“He was fun-loving, but when it came to civil rights issues and even classroom issues, he was very serious,” Ham said. “So, I still feel a bond with all three guys.”
Each year on Feb. 8, the university honors Smith, Hammond and Middleton, their families and the survivors of what has become known as the Orangeburg Massacre.
At the 2022 commemoration, the university dedicated a new monument enshrined with bronze likenesses of the three men as an additional aspect of the Smith Hammond Middleton Legacy Plaza.
Reflecting on why SC State remembers the anniversary of the massacre each year, Ham cited Spanish philosopher George Santayana’s often quoted wisdom, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
“Certainly, this not something we would ever want to relive, but more importantly, we should be living life with the understanding that none of us is going to last forever,” Ham said. “So, we must do as much good for the current population in the current day as we possibly can.”
About Thomas Kennerly
Kennerly was born and reared in Orangeburg, South Carolina, two blocks from the South Carolina State College campus. He graduated from Wilkinson High School in 1964. He was involved in several social justice activities during the mid to late 1960s. He was arrested 12 times and spent time at the infamous “Pink Palace” (Orangeburg jail) and the Department of Corrections in Columbia.
He attended SC State on a football scholarship beginning in August 1964. He was a four-year letterman and earned All-Conference honors twice. On February 8, 1968, Kennerly was shot by South Carolina Highway patrolmen on the SC State campus during what became known as the Orangeburg Massacre.
He graduated the following May with a Bachelor of
