THE ORANGEBURG MASSACRE

by Jack & Jack Bass Nelson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 23, 1970

That the "Orangeburg Massacre" of February 8, 1968 did not have more of an impact on the nation was largely a matter of timing; following upon a succession of major riots in northern cities and with national anxieties also focused on Vietnam, the confrontation at South Carolina State College in Orangeburg that left three students killed and twenty-seven wounded by police gunfire attracted scant attention. Few of the reporters that did cover the story challenged Gov. Robert McNair's strained version of the shootings, but among those few were two young white southern journalists who have undertaken in this present volume to set the record straight and draw some pertinent lessons. Based upon newspaper files, court transcripts, government records, and over a hundred interviews, this is an extremely intensive documentary, which proceeds slowly and deliberately to set the scene (an ostensibly moderate state, an unmilitant campus) and then traces the day-by-day build-up of tensions over student attempts to desegregate a local bowling alley. About the "Massacre" itself, Nelson and Bass have no doubts: it was a clear case of tense police firing wildly into an unarmed crowd. After sketches of the three victims, the local militant who became the scapegoat "outside agitator," and the "racial moderate" governor who wouldn't admit his mistakes, the authors round out their account with detailed descriptions of the subsequent investigations and the trial of nine patrolmen (verdict: not guilty). Their final reckoning calls into question the FBI's commitment to racial justice, criticizes the federal government's civil rights enforcement program, and implicates as well the media, the courts, and "all of us who took the news so calmly." Thoughtful and thorough.

Pub Date: Oct. 23, 1970

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: World

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1970

Categories: NONFICTION