ILLUSTRATIONS
All photographs are by Noah Wood.
Railroad tracks at Ruff Road
A road to the Canaan community south of Orangeburg County
Present-day view of the hill at S.C. State where students were standing on February 8, 1968
The old Orangeburg jailhouse, known as the Pink Palace, still in use during the 1960s
Railroad crossing where Lawrence Browns lynched body was likely found in 1897
Jailhouse door in the Pink Palace
Sign for the bowling alley where students protested on February 6, 1968
Historical marker commemorating the events of February 8, 1968
The bridge in Edisto Memorial Gardens where Confederate troops mounted their last defense of Orangeburg
Fountain at the entrance to Edisto Memorial Gardens
First Presbyterian Church on Summers Avenue in Orangeburg
Live oaks on the road to the Oaks retirement community
Welcome sign just off Highway 601 in Orangeburg
Rose in Edisto Memorial Gardens
S.C. State memorial to the young men killed on February 8, 1968
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book would not have been possible without the generous encouragement of the Department of English at Denison University, especially the glue that holds our pirate ship together, Anneliese Deimel Davis. Thank you to the Denison University Research Foundation and to Denison University for providing generous financial support for this project.
Many wonderful people read drafts and listened to me talk endlessly about this project, including Jim Davis, Gene Shaw, Maria Zeguers Shaw, Katharine Jager, Fred Porcheddu, Linda Krumholz, Bill Hine, Craig Keeney, and Michael Griffithmuch respect to all of you. And to Dennis Read and Paul Thompson, my eleventh-hour team, I owe you both.
Noah Wood offered his excellent eye. Christopher Davis offered his excellent ear, transcribing many of the interviews.
Thank you to those people who helped turn a project into a book: Marcus Rediker (who connected me to a superb literary agency), the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency (Sandra Dijkstra and Elise Capron, have negotiated and cheered for me through all the ups and downs), and to my always awesome editor Alexander Moore, as well as Curtis Clark, Jonathan Haupt, Karen Rood, and everyone else at the University of South Carolina Press. Thank you.
Thank you to those who helped with the research, either in the archives or by connecting me to possible interviewees: Bill Hine, Ashley Till, Barbara Keitt, Erica Prioleau-Taylor, Buddy Pough, Clemmie Webber, all the Denison University librarians (especially Josh Finnell and Susan Rice), Craig Keeney, Ruthie McLeod, Ellen Shuler Hinrichs, Marion Shuler, Curt Campbell, Thomas Salley, First Presbyterian Church of Orangeburg, Jud Jordan, Ayesha Venkataraman, and Gail Martineau. A special thank you to Holly Burdorff for reading reels of microfilm and tracking down obscure newspaper references. Most important, thank you to Jack Bass and Jack Nelson (rest in peace), the better craftsmen.
I spent about six weeks crossing ts and dotting is at the New York Public Library in the Allen Rooma wonderfully quiet place for researching and editing that is kept humming by Jay Barksdale. While I was in the city, my friends Katherine and Joe provided a roof over my head.
A special thank you to the students of my spring 2010 English Senior Seminar. Thank you for your open minds (and hearts) and thirty-two new eyeballs examining this event. It was a pleasure to spend time with yall: Kristine Aman, Kevin Burdett, Joseph Butler, Hannah Daugherty, Eric Elligott, Lindsay Goudy, Mary Aurora Grandinetti, Angelica Guitierrez, Alex Hupertz, Christina Marino, Laura Masters, Tyra Owens, Christoffer Stromstedt, Leah Taub, Emily Taylor, and Eliza Williams.
Thank you to those who allowed me to interview them between spring 2009 and summer 2010:
Jerome Anderson (January 6, 2010)
Three anonymous National Guard soldiers (March 19, 2009, and July 15, 2009)
Jack Bass (e-mail exchange May 15, 2009)
Dr. Oscar Butler (March 19, 2009)
Gilda Cobb-Hunter (January 4, 2010)
Calhoun Cornwell (January 6, 2010)
George Dean (January 6, 2010)
Hannah Floyd (July 16, 2010)
Don Frampton (December 16, 2009)
Henry Frierson (March 18, 2009)
Lee Harter (January 6, 2010)
William Hine (March 20, 2009, and January 5, 2010)
Cathy Hughes (March 17, 2009)
Clyde Jeffcoat (February 6, 2010)
Charlie Jones (January 6, 2010)
Judson Jordan (March 18, 2009)
Dean Livingston (February 6, 2010)
Bo McBratnie (February 6, 2010)
James McGee (July 14, 2009)
Nate McMillan (March 20, 2009, and January 7, 2010)
Zachary Middleton (July 16, 2009, January 6, 2010, and February 6, 2010)
Paul Miller (March 19, 2009)
Johnalee Nelson (March 18, 2009, and January 4, 2010)
J. C. Pace (July 17, 2009)
Cleveland Sellers (February 5, 2010)
Ernest Shuler (March 18, 2009)
John F. Shuler Sr. (May 9, 2009)
Mike Smith (February 8, 2010)
Carl Stokes (February 27, 2010)
John Stroman (July 15, 2009)
Ashley Till (July 13, 2009)
Angie Floyd Vaughn (July 16, 2010)
Mary Williams (March 19, 2009)
Geraldyne Zimmerman (January 7, 2010).
Thank you for your honesty and your trust and for teaching me so many things about my hometown. I would also like to acknowledge the folks I interviewed at Kent State University on May 4 and 5, 2010: Carole Barbato, Timothy Moore, and Laura Davis.
I started writing as a teenager and was encouraged by many Sandlappers along the way, including several of my teachers from Orangeburg Prep. During the summer of 1994 I had the good fortune to attend the South Carolina Governors School for the Arts (SCGSA), where amazing teachers such as George Singleton and fast friends such as Hayes Oakley taught me to accept criticism and to practice, practice, practice. SCGSA is one of South Carolinas treasures. Finally a well-known writer from the upstate named Dori Sanders gave a reading at the Orangeburg County Public Library when I was fifteen. I went to the reading and gave her some of my poems. A week later she wrote me a letter of encouragement, a simple act of kindness Ive never forgotten.
