Currently president of Voorhees College, Cleveland Sellers previously taught history and African-American Studies and served as the director of the African-American Studies Program at the University of South Carolina. Sellers' activism and academic career have their roots in a fateful day in February 1968 when student protesters and state police clashed on the South Carolina State University campus. In what became known as the “Orangeburg Massacre,” three men were killed and 27 wounded, including Sellers. The only person arrested as a result of the incident, Sellers spent seven months in prison on rioting charges. Twenty-five years later he received an official pardon.
After his release from prison, he poured himself into his studies, obtaining a bachelor's degree from Shaw University, a master’s degree in education from Harvard University and a doctorate from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. Sellers is the author of six publications and has worked as a historian and consultant for several documentaries, including ESPN’s Black Magic, Tom Brokaw’s 1968, College of Charleston’s Emmy award-winning Where Do We Go From Here and a classic by Blackside Productions Eyes on the Prize.
For the complete 2010-11 Wittenberg Series calendar of events, click here. Admission to all lectures and performances is free.
