Tom Dent interviews Dr. Rickey Hill in Orangeburg, South Carolina. He has been a faculty member and Political Science and History department chairperson at South Carolina State University since 1986. He is originally from Bogalusa, Louisiana. He discusses his involvement in the civil rights movement. Hill talks about Bogalusa, which was the subject of both his Master's thesis and doctoral dissertation. He contrasts Bogalusa with Orangeburg. Orangeburg is notable for its two historic Black colleges and Bogalusa is a mill town. Hill thinks Orangeburg has greater economic opportunity. The civil rights movement had a higher profile in Bogalusa and in other states than it did in Orangeburg. Orangeburg has old money, but it is primarily not in the hands of African Americans. They discuss Cecil Williams. Hill says that the community has the tendency to deny the history of the Orangeburg Massacre shootings. In terms of the city's power structure and infrastructure, not much has changed. Hill talks about South Carolina State University, its current president Albert E. Smith, and previous president Dr. M. Maceo Nance, Jr. He describes the area of the city, which is primarily Black. Despite being a Black majority county, the 95th State House of Representatives seat is held by a conservative White republican. He talks about various Black community groups, which are of little impact in the city. The mayor is also republican.
