South Carolina State University: A Legacy of Education and Civil Rights
As South Carolina universities prepare for a new academic year, South Carolina State University (SCSU), a public, historically black, land-grant university in Orangeburg, stands as a testament to the transformative power of education and the enduring struggle for civil rights. Since its founding in 1896, the institution has provided vocational, undergraduate, and graduate education for generations of African Americans. Today, it holds the distinction of being the state's flagship historically black university, a recognition earned through decades of perseverance in the face of adversity, including poverty, inadequate infrastructure and funding, and social and cultural isolation.
The Early Years: Establishing a Foundation (1896-1930s)
The institution was founded in 1896 in Orangeburg as the Colored Normal, Industrial, Agricultural and Mechanical College of South Carolina. It was and remains, as of the early twenty-first century, the only state-assisted, historically black, land-grant institution in South Carolina. In 1872 the General Assembly had established the South Carolina Agricultural and Mechanical (A&M) Institute under the provisions of the 1862 Morrill Land-Grant Act. For twenty-four years the A&M school was attached to Claflin University, a Methodist institution. On March 3, 1896, the General Assembly of South Carolina severed its connection between Claflin University by legislative act and enacted legislation establishing The Colored Normal, Industrial, Agricultural and Mechanical College of South Carolina. The school’s first President was Dr. Thomas E. Miller (1896-1911).
When the first students and faculty arrived in 1896, the campus was a sparse and unattractive place. The main building, Morrill Hall, was still under construction. There were no paved roads, no running water, and no electricity. During its early years the college was devoted to training black youngsters to be teachers, farmers, homemakers, and skilled artisans. The institution offered instruction in subjects such as poultry science, carpentry, harness making, cheese making, and sewing as well as academic courses including literature, history, and Latin. Most students were enrolled in primary and secondary grades. Few students earned college degrees. All students were required to work. Some were employed on the campus farm, and others worked in the laundry or the dining hall.
Under Miller’s leadership the college grew steadily despite considerable adversity and hostility to its existence. Among its earliest graduates were the acclaimed research biologist Ernest E. Just and Benjamin E. Mays, who later became president of Morehouse College and a mentor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
In the 1920s the number of college students increased, while the numbers enrolled in primary and secondary grades decreased. In 1933 the campus high school closed. The Great Depression caused severe hardship on faculty and staff as salaries were slashed and employees sometimes went without pay. New Deal programs combined with private philanthropy helped alleviate some of the worst effects of the economic crisis. Presidents Robert Shaw Wilkinson and Miller F. Whittaker were able to secure federal funds through such agencies as the Works Projects Administration and the National Youth Administration (in which the black leader Mary McLeod Bethune played a pivotal role) to keep the college functioning.
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Academic programs received more attention as the student population increased, but other programs, such as the university's high school, were forced to close due to the Great Depression.
Growth and Transformation: Responding to Changing Times (1940s-1980s)
The 1940s and 1950s brought dramatic changes to the campus. The college purchased 153 acres of land about two miles from the campus for additional space for farming and livestock. With World War II, large numbers of male students were drafted or enlisted. Following the conflict, veterans flocked to the college, determined to get an education under the G.I. Bill of Rights. The college lacked sufficient classroom and dormitory space to house the flood of students. Army established a Reserve Officers’ Training Corps detachment, and participation was mandatory for male students until 1969. Army Air Corps veteran and South Carolina State student John Wrighten was denied admission to the University of South Carolina Law School because of his race. With the assistance of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and its legal counsel Thurgood Marshall, Wrighten sued for admission. As a consequence of federal district judge J. Waties Waring’s decision the following year, the General Assembly hastily created a graduate program and a law school at South Carolina State rather than admit black students to the state’s white institutions. Among the graduates of the law school were federal judge Matthew Perry and South Carolina Supreme Court chief justice Ernest Finney.
The school's name changed, as well, as the South Carolina General Assembly renamed the school South Carolina State College in 1954. In 1954, under the administration of the school’s fourth President, Benner C. Turner, the General Assembly changed the institution’s name to South Carolina State College.
The legislature increased appropriations to South Carolina State in the 1950s in an attempt to create facilities “equal” to those at the state’s white institutions and thereby preserve a segregated system of higher education. Because of the "separate but equal" laws in the state, the legislature gave the college large sums of money to build new academic facilities and dormitories, some of which still stand on the campus today, including the Student Union (1954), and Turner Hall (1956). This was done in order to give black students an environment of "equal" education. Also, the legislature created a law program for the college, mainly to prevent black students from attending the law school at the then-segregated University of South Carolina. With additional financial assistance from the General Education Board, new classrooms, dormitories, and a student center were added and other improvements were made to the campus.
From the late-1960s to the mid-1980s, under the leadership of M. Maceo Nance, the campus experienced unprecedented growth in the form of new academic buildings, such as Nance Hall (1974) and Belcher Hall (1986), new residence halls, such as Sojourner Truth Hall (1972), which, at 14 stories, is the tallest building in Orangeburg County, and a new library building (1968), not to mention enlargements and renovations of existing facilities.
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Civil Rights and Social Justice: A Crucible of Change
During the height of the Civil Rights Movement, many students participated in marches and rallies aimed at ending segregation. South Carolina State students played a key role in the sit-ins, marches, and demonstrations that marked the early 1960s. Hundreds of students were teargassed, fire-hosed, and/or arrested during the protests against segregation. The struggle came to a climax on the night on February 8, 1968, when three students were killed and 27 others were wounded by state policemen at the height of a protest that opposed the segregation of a nearby bowling alley. On February 8, 1968, in what has become known as the Orangeburg Massacre, three young men- Henry Smith, Delano Middleton, and Samuel Hammond-were shot and killed by highway patrolmen on the campus.
The school also opened the I.P. Stanback Museum & Planetarium, which is the only facility of its kind on a historically black university campus in the United States.
Achieving University Status and Continued Growth (1990s-Present)
During the tenure of interim president, Carl A. Smith, the school also gained university status from the South Carolina General Assembly, becoming South Carolina State University in February 1992. In 1993, Barbara Hatton became the school's first female president and created many improvements for the campus, such as the 1994 renovation of Oliver C. Dawson Bulldog Stadium, constructing new suites and a larger press box, as well as increasing its capacity to 22,000. Hatton also spearheaded the creation of a plaza which resides in front of the Student Union and passes by several dorms and buildings in the central portion of the campus. SC State Engineering and Computer Science ComplexUnder the leadership of Andrew Hugine Jr., the school constructed a new 771-bed residence hall (Hugine Suites), which is the largest dormitory in South Carolina. The first four buildings in Phase One opened on August 26, 2006, and the last two in the first phase opened on September 10, 2006. With the opening of the new dorms, SC State has closed the following dorms, Bethea (freshmen male), Miller (female), Bradham (female), and Manning (female) Halls. Both Bradham and Manning Halls had been used since the World War I era, Miller Hall is being closed due to fire alarm system malfunctions, and Bethea is being closed after 50 years of service due to numerous building and health problems. The dining halls, both Washington Dining Hall and "The Pitt", located in the Student Union, received major facelifts, and the dining hall inside Truth Hall has been renovated into a cyber cafe, Pete's Arena. The university is also working to renovate Lowman Hall, which, when refurbished, will be the new administration building.
South Carolina State recently broke ground on the new James E. Clyburn University Transportation Center (UTC), which will be home to the only UTC in South Carolina, one of only three among Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), and one of only 33 total UTCs in the nation. Currently work is being done to expand Hodge Hall. South Carolina State hosted the first debate of the 2008 Democratic Party Presidential Candidate Debate series. This event, which took place on April 26, 2007, at the Martin Luther King Auditorium, was televised nationally on MSNBC. Leroy Davis Sr. Hugine's contract was terminated by the SC State Board of Trustees on December 11, 2007, only four days before the Fall Commencement Exercises, by a telephone conference meeting. According to the board, his reasons for dismissal were a performance review for the 2006-2007 school year and a second education review. The board decided to conduct a national search for a new president immediately. On December 13, 2007, the board selected Leonard McIntyre, the Dean of the College of Education, Humanities and Social Sciences at SC State to serve as interim president. Department of Agriculture, assumed the presidency of S.C. State on July 16, 2008, and was the tenth president. The SC State Board of Trustees voted to terminate Cooper's contract on June 15, 2010.
On October 5, 2025, two unrelated shootings happened on campus during homecoming weekend. One person was killed and two people injured. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2026, the flag of S.C. State flew above the South Carolina State House, to recognize S.C. State's defeat of Prairie View A&M University in the Celebration Bowl.
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The turbulent history of one of South Carolina's historically black colleges and its significant role in the civil rights movementSince its founding in 1896, South Carolina State University has provided vocational, undergraduate, and graduate education for generations of African Americans. Now the state's flagship historically black university, it achieved this recognition after decades of struggling against poverty, inadequate infrastructure and funding, and social and cultural isolation.
Academic Excellence and Accreditation
SCSU is the only university in South Carolina and only HBCU in the nation to offer a bachelor's degree in nuclear engineering. The program is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET. South Carolina State is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). Also, programs in Civil Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Nuclear Engineering, Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering Technology, and Electrical Engineering Technology, are accredited by the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET).
Campus and Resources
The school's campus size is 160 acres (65 ha), with an additional 267 acres (108 ha) at Camp Harry Daniels in Elloree, South Carolina. The library is the Miller F. Whittaker Library.
Athletics and the Marching 101
SC State Bulldogs vs. South Carolina State is a charter member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) and participates in NCAA Division I (FCS for college football). The school sponsors basketball, soccer, volleyball, softball, cross country, track and field, and tennis for women, and basketball, tennis, track and field, cross country, and football for men. Oliver C. Dawson Stadium is home to the Bulldogs football team. The school's football team has won more conference championships than any other school in the MEAC with 19 championships. Three former Bulldogs are members of the College Football Hall of Fame, including coach Willie Jeffries.
The university's marching band is known as The Marching 101. The band are regular performers at football games throughout the southeast, nationally televised professional football games, and has performed in The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and The Rose Bowl Parade. The band was organized in 1918 as a "regimental band" performing military drills as well as assisting with music in the college Sunday school and other occasions. From 1924 on, a succession of band directors influenced the growth of the band as it became part of the Department of Music program. The nickname "Marching 101" came about when the band started with 100 members and 1 majorette. Champagne". In 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2016, the Marching 101 was voted to perform at the annual Honda Battle of the Bands held in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
Notable Alumni
South Carolina State University has produced a distinguished array of alumni who have made significant contributions in various fields, including:
- Richard G. Austin: Former S.C. State Trustee
- M. Maceo Nance, Jr.: Educator and former president of SC State
- Benjamin F. Payton: Former President of Tuskegee University
- John H. Dozier: Educator and diversity expert
- James E. Clyburn: U.S. Congressman
- Ernest A. Finney, Jr.: Former Chief Justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court
- Matthew J. Perry: Federal Judge
- Clifford L. Stanley: Retired Marine Corps Major General
- John W. Matthews, Jr.: South Carolina Senator
- Amos M. Coakley: Point guard and originator of the Two Ball Skills Development Program.
- Abraham J. Smith: Legendary college football coach at South Carolina State and Howard University.
- Harry Carson: former professional football player for the St.
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