The Orange City Freedom Movement (OFM), chaired by Dr. Harlowe Caldwell of the NAACP, filed 10 pro-integration demands with the Orange City Council and Mayor in August 1963. They hit back by firing petitioners from their jobs and boycotting black businesses. In April 1964, the Orangeburg Rose Festival began on the basis of a vision of a group of citizens who were looking for ways to promote the development of Orangeburg and improve the quality of life of its inhabitants.

In 1960, 400 students were arrested for sit-ins and integration marches organized by the Congress for Racial Equality (CORE). After the negotiations failed, mass arrests and investigations led to more than 1,300 arrests. This led to a series of mass arrests and investigations, culminating in the Orangeburg massacre on 8 February 1968.

A new church was built by Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman and used as a smallpox hospital, and it was designed by union horses of the First Baptist Church. On February 8, 1968, a group of about 1,000 black men and women arrived in Orangeburg, camped in the parking lot of the railway depot and set fire to a building block, including the courthouse and the railway depot.

Many had been brought to the area by African Americans from other parts of South Carolina as part of the forced migration. The river provided an all-important waterway, and the agricultural labor was provided by enslaved African Americans. In the mid-19th century, the railroad reached Orangeburg, providing the black population with access to a thriving plantation economy and an important source of income.

In the mid-1890s, local newspapers reported that many people of color were leaving the area for Georgia or the West. Orangeburg made up for that exodus, but blacks are also subject to Jim Crow laws passed by the state's Democratic-dominated legislature. South Carolina's late-20th-century constitution, which erected barriers to voter registration, robbed blacks of their choice. Even after Congress passed the Civil Rights Act in 1964, segregation continued in public places, even after the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education in 1964.

In the midst of all this turmoil, Dr. T.E. Wannamaker of Orangeburg helped found a new college, Wade Hampton University, which raised the Confederate flag and enrolled the majority of the city's white students. Liberated after the Civil War, blacks began to receive an education, and two colleges were founded, the second being a public college for blacks and a private one for whites.

Orangeburg Calhoun Technical College is accredited to award associate designs and is a member of the American Association of Community Colleges. In 2014, Washington Monthly ranked second in Orangeburg, South Carolina - the largest city by population, behind only Charleston. The median household income in the city is $30,306, and the median income of families is $37,008, according to the US Census Bureau.

According to the 2010 American Community Survey of the US Census Bureau, African-Americans make up 75.04% of the population. The population is divided into the 15.2% age group, which is 65 years or older, with the majority of people in their 20s and 30s.

The tackle from Florida State was drafted 19th in the 2005 NFL Draft by the St. Louis Rams. He led the Tar Heels to the National Championship Game and became the first player in NCAA history to score more than 1,000 yards and 10 touchdowns in a season.

He was born in Orangeburg in 1882, and his father, former North Carolina Governor John C. Brown, Jr. (1884-1951), was a member of the United States House of Representatives and Senate. His mother, the late Dr. Mary Ann Brown (1924-1953), senator and former representative of the state of South Carolina, was born in Orangeburg in 1951.

Shawnee Smith, actress and musician, was born on July 3, 1970 in Orangeburg, SC. She is known for her role in the TV series "The Big Bang Theory" and as a singer and songwriter. The late Dr. John C. Brown Jr. (1884 - 1951), former Governor of North Carolina and former Representative of the State of South Carolina, was born on October 4, 1961 in Orangeburg.

He was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in the second round of the 2006 NFL Draft and played two seasons for the Colts before laying the foundation for his successful career as a professional football player in South Carolina in the following decades. Riggs was born in Orangeburg on January 24, 1873 and played college football at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The professional wrestler and former amateur wrestler, who is currently under contract with World Wrestling Entertainment, was born on July 9, 1975 in Orangeburger.