SC State Alumnus, Orangeburg Massacre survivor dies

Image: SC State University
(Bobby Eaddy, one of the survivors of the Orangeburg Massacre)

Image: SC State University (Bobby Eaddy, one of the survivors of the Orangeburg Massacre)

Orangeburg, SC (WOLO) — South Carolina State University is mourning one of their own. According to the university, S.C. State alumnus, and one of the Orangeburg Massacre survivors, Bobb y Eaddy has died at the age of 72.

The university says Bobby Eaddy died Saturday. Eaddy was among 27 who were wounded by police gunfire during a protest on campus in what is now known as the Orangeburg Massacre that took place on the university’s campus back in 1968. The tragic day started as a civil rights rally among students. It end with the deaths of three students, Henry Smith, Samuel Hammond and Delano Middleton who were shot by State Police officers who fired shots into the crowd.

Eaddy who was just a 17 year old Freshman at the time was shot, but survived and lived with the bullet, just an inch from his heart that was never removed from his chest.

Eaddy was an award-winning public speaker known for giving lectures and agreeing to national media interviews about the demonstration decades later. Eaddy also established the Orangeburg Project Orangeburg which was designed to keep the memory of the tragedy alive. The University says he remained a constant figure in the community including his tireless work as a member of the SC State University National Alumni Association.

SC State University President Alexander Conyers released a statement about Eaddy’s passing saying,

“Bobby Eaddy experienced a trauma that few people could understand, yet he turned that experience into a force for enlightenment,”… “We at SC State are forever in his debt for the courage and resolve he offered to generations, as well as for his dedication to his alma mater. He will be tremendously missed.”

Eaddy is survived by his wife and three children.

Visitation has been set for Monday, Oct. 24, and will take place at Rehoboth Baptist Church, 4646 Hard Scrabble Road, Columbia, South Carolina. A service will follow at 12 noon. If you would like to send arrangements, you can send them to the  JP Holley Funeral Home, Garners Ferry Road SE Chapel.