Editing Orangeburg, South Carolina (section)

===20th century===
[[File:Confederate Flag, Orangeburg, SC.jpg|thumb|A [[Modern display of the Confederate battle flag|controversial Confederate flag]] in Orangeburg owned by the [[Sons of Confederate Veterans]].]]
Efforts by blacks to regain civil rights increased in the postwar period after World War II. In the 1960s, Orangeburg was a major center of [[Civil Rights Movement]] activities by students from both [[Claflin University|Claflin College]] and [[South Carolina State University|South Carolina State College]] as well as black residents of the city. After the US Supreme Court ruling in ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'' (1954) declaring segregation in public schools to be unconstitutional, local blacks sought integration of local schools in 1956. Whites retaliated economically, sometimes firing activists or evicting them from rental housing. College students came to their support with hunger strikes, boycotts, and mass marches. In 1960, over 400 students were arrested on [[Sit-in#American Civil Rights Movement|sit-ins]] and integration marches organized by the [[Congress of Racial Equality]] (CORE).

In August 1963, the Orangeburg Freedom Movement (OFM), chaired by Harlowe Caldwell of the [[NAACP]], submitted 10 pro-integration demands to the Orangeburg Mayor and City Council. After negotiations failed, mass demonstrations similar to those in the [[Birmingham campaign]] in Alabama resulted in more than 1,300 arrests. Local efforts to end segregation in public places continued, particularly after Congress passed the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]]. On February 8, 1968, after days of protests against a [[All-Star Triangle Bowl|segregated bowling alley]], violence broke out near the bowling alley as police attacked Black students from South Carolina State. Police opened fire on a crowd of students, killing Samuel Hammond, Henry Smith, and Delano Middleton, and wounding 27 others in what became known as the "[[Orangeburg Massacre]]".<ref>[http://www.crmvet.org "History & Timeline"], Civil Rights Movement Archive</ref>