A once segregated bowling alley was defined by exclusion. Now the community is preserving its history and reclaiming it

The road to equality for all Americans hasn't come without sacrifice, bloodshed and strife.

Cecil Williams, a local historian in Orangeburg, South Carolina — a small city that's nestled between Columbia and Charleston — said he remembers when race determined where someone could and could not go.

"Most of South Carolina, and especially most of Orangeburg, had already opened its doors to people of color. But there were a few pockets of resistance," he said.

One of those spots, a local bowling alley, ended up helping to shape the civil rights movement. All Star Bowling Lanes sits just minutes from Orangeburg's two historically Black universities — Claflin University and South Carolina State. In the 1960s, owner Harry Floyd refused to integrate.

"I have my own customers that patronize me 52 weeks a year. They support me, year in and year out. I need no other business," Floyd told a reporter in a 1968 interview.   

Orangeburg Massacre

Students from both universities organized protests against All Star Bowling Lanes. What began as peaceful attempts to enter the bowling alley on Feb. 6, 1968, escalated into a confrontation between students and police.

"A glass was accidentally broken in a window where we were all standing around. Police authorities really overreacted. Those with weapons started pulling them from their right side," Williams said.

After days of demanding entry into the bowling alley, a new confrontation between students and police erupted on Feb. 8 and took a deadly turn. It's known today as the "Orangeburg Massacre."

"I think there were around 30 highway patrolmen and 200 National Guardsmen that were in the streets," Williams said about that day.

He said at around 10 p.m. that evening, highway patrolmen began firing at students, killing three — Henry Smith, Samuel Hammond and Delano Middleton — and injuring 28. 

Williams remembers arriving on campus the next morning.

"I looked down on the ground, and I saw … shells and other things that were on the ground. I picked up about a dozen." The FBI would later confiscate five of them, but two were lost, he recalled.

"I have five that are remaining with me," Williams said.

"Actually, that event could have been worse, but this proves to me there are more good people than there are bad," Williams said. "The attention went out for 30 highway patrolmen to load their weapons, but only nine obeyed ... obeyed one of the highest-ranked law enforcement officers to load their weapons and begin shooting the students."

Nine officers were charged with using excessive force, but were later acquitted.

The only conviction was of protest organizer Cleveland Sellers, who served seven months on a riot charge. He was pardoned 25 years later.

All Star Bowling Lanes stayed open for nearly 40 more years and integrated only after continued community pressure. It closed permanently due to financial issues in 2007.

"This history must be told"

Once defined by exclusion, the bowling alley is being reclaimed and redefined. 

The new owner, Ellen Zish Holtz, is now leading efforts to restore the historic site with nonprofit and federal support.

"This is the future for this city," she said. "It's going to be a place of history and remembrance, but it's also gonna be a place to have a really good time and for the community to come together. And I believe that this is the key to reconciliation."

Williams said preserving the city's history is crucial.

"This history must be told. You can't just chuck it neatly under a rug and forget about it," Williams said. "History is something like freedom. You have to work at it. It doesn't come free. Freedom is not free. It has to be earned. And generation after generation, sometimes we have to kinda tweak it again."