COLUMBIA -- Shouts and shots ring out through the computer screen as 13-year-old Hand Middle School student Freeman Hamilton begins showing his award-winning documentary, "The Orangeburg Massacre: The Rights of African Americans Vs. The Responsibilities of Society."

Black and white archival images fill the screen. They take the viewer back to the 1950s and 1960s and the height of the civil rights movement, including to that day in February 1968 in Orangeburg when shots from state troopers killed three students involved in a protest to desegregate a bowling alley.

Hamilton's voice breaks through the footage and announces:

"In 1896, in the court case of Plessey vs. Ferguson, an African-American man named Plessey from New Orleans got on the white passenger car of a train and was arrested and convicted. He appealed to the Supreme Court and the conviction was upheld. Thus, Plessey vs. Ferguson sparked the Jim Crow laws and the civil rights movement which led up to the Orangeburg Massacre in 1968."

Thus for Hamilton began a documentary piece that would eventually gain national recognition; finishing eighth among 84 individual documentary entries at the June 2003 National History Day competition. The contest is considered the nation's oldest humanities contest for grades 6-12.

The 12-year-old's interest in computers, particularly the MacroMedia FlashMX, which was used in the creation of the documentary, was cited as a primary factor in his pursuit of topic presentation.

"I picked the Orangeburg Massacre because it is really a controversial topic," Hamilton said, describing the impetus for the piece. "Not a lot of people know about. It was brought up in the news recently because in 2003 when I was still working on my documentary, Gov. Mark Sanford ... did the apology, which has not happened since the event occurred."

Hamilton added Gov. Sanford's apology to his work. And after hours and days of compiling research and interviews, the teen-ager continued editing and refining the project in January 2003 with the help of Hand Middle School film equipment. The piece successfully moved into regional competition and then was one of three individual documentaries to move into the state level.

Of the 14 entered at the state competition, the documentary went into the top four in the runoff category. The piece then joined one other individual documentary from Hand Middle at the national judging event in College Park, Md. There the 84 entries were whittled to a top 14, with Hamilton eighth.

The piece also received first-place recognition at the Richland County District 1 Visual Literacy Festival for individual documentaries and the award for creative excellence this past December. The award also came with a $500 savings bond from Columbia law firm Nexsen, Pruet, Jacobs, and Pollard, LLC.

The S.C. Educational Television's staff soon discovered the project and encouraged Hamilton to enter it into the Columbia Film Society Young Film Makers Festival. It was shown there on Jan. 17, 2004. The festival provides young individuals an opportunity to show their respective films on big screen.

Utilizing the soulful sounds of "Oh Death" and "Lonesome Valley" from the "Oh Brother Where Art Thou Soundtrack," interspersed with newspaper clippings both during and after the event, the 10-minute documentary aims to encapsulate and draw the viewer into the atmosphere of the civil rights movement and the four days in February 1968 during which the three students were killed in what has become known as the "Orangeburg Massacre."

The central incident occurred Feb. 8 when protesters marched back near South Carolina State University's campus from Orangeburg's All Star bowling lanes, from which blacks then were banned.

When the smoke cleared, Henry Smith, Samuel Hammond and Delano Middleton -- all of whom the documentary memorialized -- were killed and 27 others were injured. Nine S.C. Highway Patrolmen were indicted by a federal grand jury and all were acquitted. Many claimed the students fired first and threw bricks. Students and protesters denied they were armed.

Notable in the presentation are a number of photographs from a Feb. 9, 1968, Times and Democrat article headlined, "All Hell Breaks Loose -- Three Killed, Many Wounded in College Nightmare" and a Feb. 13 editorial written by retired T&D Publisher Dean Livingston.

Included also are current photos of the Orangeburg bowling alley -- formerly All Star Bowling Lanes -- and photos of South Carolina State University and its memorials to Smith, Hammond and Middleton.

Upwards of 60 sources ranging from print, to video, to archived audio and live interviews from the individuals involved at the time -- civil rights leader and then South Carolina State University's Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee organizer Cleveland Sellers and then-Gov. Robert McNair -- serve as bookends to the tensions of the time.

"It was very useful," Hamilton said, referring to the interview with the former governor who has seldom spoken about the incident. While not directly quoting McNair -- because of a contract the ex-governor reportedly has with a publishing company for a piece on which he is working -- Hamilton did gather the governor's thoughts.

Neither Sellers nor McNair has yet seen the film.

"I think the interview with Gov. McNair helped me kind of balance it," Hamilton said. "Just ... one side of it didn't show the side of the government and the people dealing with it. It helped me see how he felt about it."

The documentary propels the viewer into the 21st century with photographs of former S.C. Gov. Jim Hodges' appearance at the 2001 memorial service, and Gov. Mark Sanford's photograph and formal apology statement issued during the 35th anniversary of the incident in 2003

Clips from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech serve as a conclusion, along with the song, "Set on Freedom" compiled from Jack Nelson and Jack Bass's 1970 book, "The Orangeburg Massacre."

In the piece, Hamilton offers some of his own thoughts.

"These tragic events would never have occurred if African-Americans had been given the rights of Southern whites after the Civil War. The owner of a public facility cannot deny access on race alone. However, with the right to a peaceful protest comes the responsibility to follow the law. When this occurred, the law was the curfew, which the students were breaking. On the other hand, where would this nation be if citizens did not stand up to injustice?"

Bringing closure to the documentary, Hamilton poses questions for the viewer.

"What would our present day look like if this event did not happen? Perhaps, unfortunately it took this violent tragedy to change the mind of many citizens. Of course, this event was all in vain if society does not think about it today."

Hamilton's work has reached beyond the impact of merely a school project for parents Miriam Freeman and Larry Hamilton.

"It still has the same impact on me after seeing it many times," father Larry Hamilton said. "Gut wrenching is the word I use to describe it. It is very powerful stuff."

Miriam Freeman described her son's work as "amazing."

"I was just in awe of what he was doing and what he did," she said, noting his ability to set up needed interviews and the cooperation among all those involved in making the project a success. "He did it all and this Macromedia Flash program he taught himself. It just has been amazing what he did with this. I am extremely impressed with his work on it."

Memorial service at 3 p.m. Sunday

South Carolina State University will commemorate the 36th anniversary of the "Orangeburg Massacre" at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 8, at Nance Hall Center Court. In the event of inclement weather, the program will be held in Belcher Hall Auditorium. The lighting of the flame at the Smith-Hammond-Middleton Monument will follow the program.

T&D Staff Writer Gene Zaleski can be reached by e-mail at gzaleski@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5551.

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