ORANGEBURG, S.C. — One of the survivors of the Orangeburg Massacre, a notorious chapter in South Carolina and national Civil Rights history, has died.
South Carolina State University said 72-year-old Bobby Eaddy passed away on Saturday, October 15.
The Orangeburg Massacre happened on February 8, 1968. At the time, Eaddy was a 17-year-old freshman at SC State.
A group of students and civil rights activists had been protesting at the All-Star Bowling lanes in Orangeburg over the business' refusal to allow Black people to go inside. After several nights of protests, including a previous night where students and police clashed, the students held a demonstration on the SC State campus.
Multiple law enforcement agencies had responded to the school because of the nights of unrest. At some point, law enforcement fired on the students, killing three students--Sammy Hammond, Delano Middleton, and Henry Smith.
Eaddy was one of the other students wounded when he took a bullet to the chest. The bullet stopped an inch from his heart and couldn't be removed, so he lived with that shrapnel inside him for the rest of his life.
Eaddy and his immediate family eventually established the Orangeburg Project to help preserve the legacy of the Orangeburg Massacre. He also became an award-winning public speaker and often spoke about what happened on the night of the massacre.
"Many people who are alive today really don't have an understanding of what went on during the Civil Rights Era," Eaddy told News19 in 2015 during a remembrance of the massacre. "People died. People made sacrifices and we want to make sure those things are never forgotten."
Eaddy also played football for SC State while a student. After college, the school said he served eight years in the U.S. Army and received several medals. He also had a business career in sales and management.
Visitation for Eaddy is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 24, at Rehoboth Baptist Church, 4646 Hard Scrabble Road in Columbia. A service will follow at noon. Arrangements are through JP Holley Funeral Home, Garners Ferry Road SE Chapel.