The Yard Doesn't Have to Be a Yard. Sometimes It's a Highway Median in Orangeburg. And Every Bulldog Still Comes Home.
There is a stretch of Highway 601 that runs into Orangeburg, South Carolina, that every South Carolina State alum knows by feel before they know it by sight. The Waffle House on the right. The billboard for the next exit. And then, all at once, garnet and blue everywhere — on porches, on car flags, on the fits people have been planning since August. You roll onto campus and the Marching 101 is already out on the practice field, brass catching the afternoon sun, and something in your chest just settles.
That is South Carolina State University Homecoming. Not the biggest homecoming in Black America. Not the flashiest. But one of the most fiercely loved — a week where a small city of about 13,000 people, more than three-quarters Black, opens its arms to tens of thousands of Bulldogs coming home to a campus that has meant something to this country far bigger than its size would suggest.
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What Makes SC State Homecoming Unlike Any Other
South Carolina State's homecoming isn't trying to be Howard's or Southern's or Grambling's. It has its own identity, built on three things.
First, the Marching 101. Organized in 1918, the "Marching 101" earned its nickname the old-fashioned way — it started with 100 members and a single majorette. Today it's grown to more than 150 musicians and dancers, and it has performed at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Rose Bowl Parade. Homecoming is the one weekend a year the band plays for an audience made up almost entirely of people who marched or danced in its ranks themselves, or who grew up watching relatives who did.
Second, the size of the love, not the size of the crowd. SC State is one of the smaller HBCUs on the homecoming circuit, with just over 3,000 students on campus today. But that intimacy is the point — homecoming here feels like a family reunion where you actually run into everyone you're looking for, not a festival where you lose your group in the first hour.
Third, Orangeburg itself. This is a campus and a city with a shared, weighty history — one that shaped the modern civil rights movement in ways too many people outside South Carolina still don't know. Coming home to SC State means coming home to that history, too.
The History: South Carolina State University & Its Legendary Homecoming
South Carolina State traces its roots to 1872, when it began as a small industrial program within Claflin University. On March 4, 1896, the South Carolina General Assembly established it as a separate institution — the Colored Normal, Industrial, Agricultural and Mechanical College of South Carolina — making it the state's only public HBCU. It became South Carolina State College in 1954 and earned full university status in 1992.
For nearly 130 years, SC State has produced educators, engineers, judges, athletes, and public servants who went on to shape South Carolina and the nation. U.S. Congressman James E. Clyburn, one of the most influential Black political figures in modern American history, is a proud SC State alum. So is federal judge Matthew J. Perry, a towering figure in civil rights law. NFL Hall of Famer Harry Carson of the New York Giants and current NFL standout Javon Hargrave both wore the garnet and blue before going pro. The Marching 101 has sent generations of musicians into band programs, orchestras, and music education careers across the country.
Homecoming grew up alongside all of it — a decades-old tradition of the campus and the city of Orangeburg coming together every October to celebrate Bulldog pride, welcome alumni home, and fill Oliver C. Dawson Stadium for one of the proudest football Saturdays in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
But no honest history of SC State can skip February 8, 1968. That night, state highway patrolmen opened fire on a crowd of unarmed Black students who had gathered on campus near Lowman Hall following days of protests against a segregated bowling alley in downtown Orangeburg. In eight seconds, three young people were killed — SC State students Samuel Hammond Jr. and Henry Smith, and Wilkinson High School senior Delano Middleton — and at least twenty-seven others were wounded. It became known as the Orangeburg Massacre, the first instance in American history of police killing student protesters on a college campus, predating the more widely remembered tragedies at Kent State and Jackson State by two years. The officers involved were tried and acquitted; it would take more than three decades before a South Carolina governor formally apologized, in 2001.
SC State has never let that night be forgotten, and it shouldn't be treated as a footnote here either. The Smith-Hammond-Middleton Memorial Center on campus bears the victims' names. A granite monument has stood since 1969, joined by bronze busts of the three young men installed in 2022. Every February, the university holds a memorial service to honor them. When you walk this campus during homecoming week — through the joy, the music, the reunions — you are also walking through a place where students your age or younger once paid the ultimate price simply for demanding to be treated as full citizens. That history is part of why coming home to SC State means something. The joy of homecoming exists because the people who came before insisted, at great cost, that this institution and its students deserved to be here at all.
Why SC State Homecoming Matters
SC State Homecoming matters because it is a celebration of continuity — of a small, historically underfunded public HBCU that has kept producing lawyers, engineers, musicians, and leaders for 130 years despite never having the endowment or name recognition of the larger HBCU flagships. Every alum who returns to Orangeburg in October is proof that the investment made in them mattered.
It also matters as an act of remembrance. Homecoming week sits in the same physical space where the Orangeburg Massacre happened. Returning here, dancing here, cheering for the Bulldogs here, is itself a quiet, powerful statement: this campus belongs to its students, and it always will.
Why You Should Attend SC State Homecoming 2026
You don't need a garnet-and-blue degree to feel the pull of this weekend. SC State Homecoming offers something a lot of bigger homecomings can't — genuine, unhurried access. You can actually get a seat at the step show. You can actually find parking near the tailgate. You can actually have a real conversation with the people around you instead of shouting over a crowd of 40,000.
The Marching 101's halftime show alone is worth the drive to Orangeburg. And the tailgate scene — garnet-and-blue tents, fish fries, home cooking, three generations of one family posted up at the same spot they've claimed for twenty years — is small-town HBCU homecoming at its most authentic.
Come dressed. Come hungry. Come ready to feel like family.
🎟️ Plan Your SC State Homecoming Trip
What to Expect: Day by Day
- Monday, October 19 — Kickoff & Coronation Week Begins: Homecoming week officially opens on campus with pep rallies, class competitions, and the buildup to the homecoming court coronation.
- Tuesday, October 20 — Fashion & Fun Day: Student organizations and Greek life host themed campus events; alumni chapters begin arriving early to reconnect.
- Wednesday, October 21 — Coronation: The crowning of Mister and Miss SC State and the homecoming court, one of the most anticipated traditions of the week.
- Thursday, October 22 — Greek Step Show: The Divine 9 step show brings out SC State's Greek organizations in full competitive force — one of the loudest, proudest nights of the week.
- Friday, October 23 — Concert & Comedy Night: A homecoming concert and comedy showcase typically headline the Friday night lineup, plus the annual alumni gala and class reunion dinners around town.
- Saturday, October 24 — Tailgate, Parade & Football Game: The big day. A homecoming parade rolls through campus and downtown Orangeburg in the morning, tailgates fill every available lot by midday, and the Bulldogs take the field at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium/Willie Jeffries Field that afternoon — with the Marching 101 owning halftime. Go Bulldogs.
Note: exact day-by-day event names shift slightly year to year and are finalized closer to the date by SC State's Office of Alumni Affairs and Student Life — check scsu.edu and gobulldogsports.com for the final published schedule as it's released.
Career & Networking Opportunities
SC State's alumni network runs deep into South Carolina's political, legal, education, and engineering sectors, and homecoming week is when that network resurfaces in force.
- Alumni chapter reunions — SC State's National Alumni Association chapters from across the Southeast and beyond host receptions and dinners throughout the week. Reach out to your local chapter before you travel.
- College and department gatherings — the School of Business, the College of Education, and SC State's respected engineering programs often host informal alumni meetups during homecoming week.
- The tailgate lots — some of the most useful conversations of the weekend happen standing next to a grill, catching up with classmates who are now judges, principals, engineers, and small business owners across the state.
Social Events & Parties
Orangeburg is a small city, so homecoming week transforms it. Local event spaces, restaurants, and even church fellowship halls host after-parties, class reunion mixers, and step-show afterparties throughout the week. Because the city is compact, most of the action is walkable or a short drive from campus — a real contrast to the sprawl of bigger-city homecomings.
Columbia, about 40 minutes away, also picks up overflow energy during SC State Homecoming week, with some alumni choosing to stay there and commute in for game day. But the heart of the party stays in Orangeburg, right around campus.
Where to Eat: Orangeburg's Best for SC State Homecoming
- Duke's Bar-B-Que — A long-running Orangeburg barbecue institution on Whitman Street, serving the pulled pork, hash-and-rice, and mustard-based sauce that South Carolina barbecue is famous for. A homecoming week staple for good reason.
- Mama's Kountry Kooking — Home-style Southern comfort food — fried chicken, collards, mac and cheese — served the way Orangeburg families have been cooking it for generations.
- D and B Fried Fish & BBQ — A local go-to for fried fish plates and barbecue, popular with SC State students and alumni alike.
- Cajun Seafood & Wings — Creole and Cajun-leaning seafood and wings on Chestnut Street, good for a group order before a night out.
- Chestnut Grill — A reliable American menu spot — steaks, pizza, sandwiches — solid for a bigger group with different tastes.
- The Kuckery Restaurant & Catering — Family-style American fare and catering, a homecoming week option for groups looking to eat well without a long wait.
What to Do in Orangeburg
- SC State Campus Walk — Even a short walk through campus during homecoming week — past Lowman Hall, the historic academic buildings, and the practice fields where the Marching 101 rehearses — is worth the time, alum or not.
- Edisto Memorial Gardens — A 150-plus-acre municipal garden along the Edisto River with thousands of rose plants across dozens of varieties. A peaceful, beautiful spot for a homecoming morning walk away from the noise.
- I.P. Stanback Museum & Planetarium — Located right on SC State's campus, this is one of the largest museum spaces at any HBCU in the country, paired with a planetarium — a genuinely unique campus resource worth a visit during homecoming week.
- Claflin University — SC State's HBCU neighbor and the oldest historically Black college in South Carolina, founded in 1869. Worth a walk-through if you're spending the whole weekend in Orangeburg.
- Downtown Orangeburg — A compact, walkable downtown with local shops and a small-town feel that fills up with garnet and blue during homecoming week.
Black History & Cultural Sites in Orangeburg
- The Orangeburg Massacre Memorial & Historical Marker — On SC State's own campus near the site of the 1968 shooting. The granite monument, the bronze busts of Samuel Hammond Jr., Henry Smith, and Delano Middleton, and the South Carolina Historical Marker at the campus entrance together preserve one of the most important and least-known chapters of the civil rights movement. Visit with the gravity it deserves.
- Cecil Williams South Carolina Civil Rights Museum — Opened in 2019 in downtown Orangeburg, this is the state's first civil rights museum, built around the archive of civil rights photojournalist Cecil Williams, who documented the Orangeburg Massacre and the broader movement across South Carolina firsthand.
- I.P. Stanback Museum & Planetarium — Beyond its science programming, the museum regularly features exhibitions on African American art, history, and culture, reflecting SC State's own legacy.
- Smith-Hammond-Middleton Memorial Center — The campus gymnasium and memorial building named for the three young men killed in 1968, a living, everyday tribute rather than a roped-off exhibit.
Recommended Places to Stay
Orangeburg is a small market, and rooms near campus book up fast during homecoming week — reserve as early as you can.
Premium
- SpringHill Suites by Marriott — Citadel Road, close to I-26. Suite-style rooms, a solid pick for a family or small group. Estimated $200–$240/night during homecoming week.
- Hampton Inn & Suites Orangeburg — Also on Citadel Road, a dependable upper-tier chain option a few minutes from campus. Estimated $180–$220/night.
Mid-Range
- Fairfield Inn & Suites — Citadel Road corridor, reliable Marriott mid-tier comfort. Estimated $150–$180/night.
- Comfort Inn & Suites — On Citadel Road near I-26, a consistent, well-reviewed mid-range option. Estimated $140–$170/night.
- Holiday Inn Express & Suites Orangeburg — A familiar, comfortable mid-range choice close to the highway. Estimated $140–$170/night.
Budget & Group
- Quality Inn & Suites and Days Inn by Wyndham Orangeburg South — No-frills budget options along the Five Chop Road/St. Matthews Road corridor. Estimated $90–$120/night.
- Thee Matriarch Bed & Breakfast — A locally-owned, independent bed and breakfast option in Orangeburg — a nice alternative to the chain hotel corridor for a smaller group wanting something more personal. Book well ahead; rooms are limited.
- Columbia, SC (40 minutes away) — If Orangeburg is fully booked, Columbia has a much larger hotel supply and is a manageable homecoming-week commute.
🏨 Find & Compare Orangeburg Hotels for SC State Homecoming →
BTN Travel Tip: Your SC State Homecoming Itinerary
- Wednesday — Arrive & Civil Rights Museum: Check in, spend the afternoon at the Cecil Williams South Carolina Civil Rights Museum and the Orangeburg Massacre memorial on campus. Evening coronation event.
- Thursday — Edisto Gardens + Greek Step Show: Morning walk through Edisto Memorial Gardens. Evening step show — arrive early, it fills up.
- Friday — Stanback Museum + Concert Night: Visit the I.P. Stanback Museum & Planetarium on campus, dinner at Duke's Bar-B-Que, evening concert or comedy show.
- Saturday — Parade, Tailgate & Game: Homecoming parade in the morning, tailgate all afternoon, Bulldogs football with the Marching 101 at halftime. This is the day — pace yourself.
- Sunday — Claflin Campus + Depart: A relaxed walk through neighboring Claflin University, brunch downtown, then head home.
Mark Your Calendar
South Carolina State University Homecoming 2026
📅 Homecoming Week: October 19–24, 2026 — Homecoming football game Saturday, October 24, 2026 (Bulldogs vs. Norfolk State)
📍 South Carolina State University, 300 College Street NE, Orangeburg, SC 29117
🎟️ Ticket and full schedule info — gobulldogsports.com and scsu.edu
⚠️ Homecoming week event names and exact schedule are finalized by the university closer to the date — confirm details before booking travel.
🐾 Get SC State Homecoming Tickets →
How to Stay Connected
- Official Website: scsu.edu/homecoming
- SC State Athletics: gobulldogsports.com
- SC State Instagram: @scstate1896
- Hashtags: #SCStateHomecoming2026 #Marching101 #BulldogNation #SCState1896
- BTN Coverage: Follow @myblacktravelnow for homecoming guides and HBCU travel tips
