The Orangeburg Massacre occurred on February 8, 1968, when a group of unarmed black students at South Carolina State University were demonstrating against racial segregation at a bowling alley in Orangeburg, South Carolina.

The protest turned violent when state troopers opened fire on the crowd, killing three students - Samuel Hammond Jr., Delano Middleton, and Henry Smith - and injuring 27 others. The students were shot in the back as they were retreating from the scene.

The Orangeburg Massacre was one of the deadliest incidents of civil rights-era violence on a college campus in the United States. The tragedy received little national attention at the time, overshadowed by other events such as the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. just two months later.

The surviving victims and families of those killed in the massacre continued to push for justice and accountability for many years. It was not until 2003, 35 years after the incident, that nine former highway patrolmen were indicted for their roles in the shootings. Only one of the officers was found guilty of misconduct and was sentenced to prison.

The Orangeburg Massacre remains a tragic reminder of the systemic racism and violence faced by African Americans in their fight for civil rights and social justice.