Each year, Kent State community members and visitors gather on the Kent State Commons for the annual May 4 Commemoration to remember the massacre of unarmed students on May 4, 1970.
This year’s 54th annual commemoration, titled “The Power of Our Voices,” will take place Friday, May 3 and Saturday, May 4. The two-day event will feature a series of programs honoring the memory of May 4, 1970, when members of the Ohio National Guard shot and killed four Kent State students and wounded nine others during an anti-war protest on campus. The tragedy marked a turning point in American history.
“The Power of Our Voices” theme has continued to inspire this year’s May 4 Commemoration planning, said Roseann “Chic” Canfora, professional-in-residence in Kent State’s School of Media and Journalism. Canfora is chair of the May 4 Presidential Advisory Committee and the May 4 Commemoration Committee.
“Our plan is to continue amplifying the voices of Kent State students this year and to expand the engagement of the campus community in making May 4 relevant to students today,” she said in a press release from the university. “Our May 4 Education Committee, under the leadership of Dr. Neil Cooper from the School of Peace and Conflict Studies, has put together a robust schedule of events this year.”
Below is the schedule of events as stated in the university press release:
Thursday, May 2
– K-12 educators, students, and Kent State faculty and staff will come together for the “Civic Engagement for Peaceful Change: May 4, Social Justice and Nonviolent Action” conference. The all-day conference will help participants demonstrate knowledge about the critical history of student activism and organizing at Kent State, emphasizing the significance of May 4. Registration is required.
Friday, May 3
– At 11:30 a.m., Kent State will hold the Jerry M. Lewis May 4 Lecture Series. The lecture and luncheon will take place in the Kent Student Center Ballroom and will feature Chris Post, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Geography, who will present “Developing and Interpreting the Wounded Student Markers at Kent State.” This ticketed event is free and open to the public. Tickets are available for download now.
– At 3 p.m. in the Kent Student Center Kiva, author and journalist Lawrence Roberts will discuss his book “Mayday 1971: A White House at War, a Revolt on the Streets, and the Untold History of America’s Biggest Mass Arrest.” The book chronicles the events of Mayday 1971, when a multi-day Vietnam War protest in Washington, D.C., led to the largest mass arrest in the country’s history. Following his presentation, Roberts will join Kent State students for a moderated Q&A. Tickets for this event, titled “Voices of Democracy,” are available for download now.
– At 5 p.m., a panel discussion with the School of Peace and Conflict Studies faculty and a delegation of faculty from Chonnam National University in Gwangju, South Korea, will take place in the Kent Student Center Ballroom. The panel will discuss the Gwangju Uprising, also known as the May 18 Democratic Uprising, which occurred in 1980. It was led by Chonnam National University students protesting martial law. After clashes with the South Korean military, citizens joined, seizing government buildings and arming themselves against the national government. The government reported 165 deaths, but estimates suggest the toll ranged from 600 to more than 2,000, with victims later memorialized in a national cemetery. Tickets are available for download now.
– Members of the Kent State University community are invited to participate in the annual May 4 Candlelight Walk and Vigil, which will start at 11 p.m. This cornerstone of the commemoration began in 1971. There will be food before the Candlelight Walk on the Kent State Commons and in the Prentice Hall parking lot, and there is an online sign-up for the Candlelight Vigil.
Saturday, May 4
– The campus community and visitors are invited to gather at noon on the May 4 site at the Kent State Commons (rain location: Kent Student Center Ballroom) to commemorate the moment that gunfire erupted 54 years ago. The commemoration will include a performance by the Kent Chorale, remarks from university students and administrators, the ringing of the Victory Bell and a moment of silence at 12:24 p.m.
The commemoration remembers those killed on May 4, 1970 – Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Scheuer and William Schroeder; and those wounded – Alan Canfora, John Cleary, Thomas Grace, Dean Kahler, Joseph Lewis, Donald Mackenzie, James Russell, Robert Stamps and Douglas Wrentmore.
Music on the Kent State Commons will precede the commemoration at 11 a.m.
– In addition to these university-sponsored programs, university departments, the May 4 Task Force, and local artists and musicians will host related events and programs leading up to the commemoration on May 4.
The May 4 Visitors Center will host a discussion by Derf Backderf, author and illustrator of the acclaimed graphic novel “Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio” at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 11 in Room 226 of Taylor Hall. The May 4 Task Force will hold a screening of the film “Fire in the Heartland” from 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 16 in the May 4 Visitors Center Reflections Gallery. The Kent Stage will also feature “Harvest: The Ultimate Neil Young Tribute” at 7:30 p.m. May 3.
The May 4 Commemoration programs will be continually updated on the May 4 Events Calendar.
For the latest information about the commemoration and events planned to honor and remember May 4, 1970, visit www.kent.edu/may4.
Tom Hardesty is a Portager sports columnist. He was formerly assistant sports editor at the Record-Courier and author of the book Glimpses of Heaven.