Tuesday May 2nd, 7:00 PM in Montieth Room 414
On May 4, 1970, the Ohio National Guard opened fire on a peaceful anti-war protest at Kent State University in Ohio. The attack left four dead and nine wounded. Students had gathered in response to President Richard Nixon’s announcement that the US had invaded Cambodia – a major escalation of the war in Southeast Asia.
The massacre at Kent was followed ten days later with the police barrage of bullets into a dormitory at Jackson State in Mississippi that left two students dead and an unknown number of others wounded.
The massacres at Kent and Jackson, along with deep hatred of the war, sparked a national student strike that was to become the largest political demonstration in U.S. history. Tens of thousands of students occupied their universities and used the facilities to reach out with their anti-war message. The strike played a crucial role in the movement that eventually forced an end to the war.
This slideshow provides a compelling visual record of these events and a perspective on how students and working people can organize a successful mass movement in the fight for peace and justice.
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Mike Alewitz was the founder and chairman of the Kent Student Mobilization Committee Against the War (SMC). He was an eyewitness to the massacre of May 4, 1970, and a leader of the national student strike that followed.
Alewitz is a lifelong socialist, labor activist and artist. He is Professor Emeritus at Central CT State University, where he taught Mural Painting and Street Art.
Facebook Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/2280404798669518/
For more information, contact: Wyatt Mund at wyatt@uconn.edu