May 4 Commemoration

This year, Kent State University will hold the 55th commemoration honoring the memory of May 4, 1970, a tragic day when the Ohio National Guard fired on Kent State students during an anti-war protest on campus, killing four students, wounding nine others and sparking a turning point in American history. Kicking off the program for the annual May 4 Commemoration is a play that focuses on student activism and book bans.

“Trial by Fire” is coming to Kent State in February. The play, written by Kent State alumnus and staff member Eric Mansfield, and inspired by a true story, is about banned books and a Kent State graduate who presented them to her high school class and how her students rose to activism to defend her. The performances are part of this year’s 55th May 4 Commemoration schedule, presented by the May 4 Education Committee. 

A group of Kent State University professors recently returned from a visit to the commemoration of the Gwangju Uprising at Chonnam National University in Gwangju, South Korea, feeling inspired for the meaningful connections they made to the May 4, 1970, shootings at Kent State.

A professor from Chonnam National University in Gwangju, South Korea, said his recent visit to Kent State University enabled him to experience his research into the May 4, 1970, Kent State shootings in a whole new way.

This year's May 4 Commemoration remembered the fallen and recognized the spirit of activism that is part of Kent State's history and the university's foundational values. 

Against the backdrop of a new generation of student activism, the Kent State community gathered to reflect and remember the student protesters killed and wounded on May 4, 1970.

Commemorative landscapes and how they help produce a sense of empathy and place and foster a connection to help us learn from our past was a theme explored Friday, May 3, by Kent State University Professor Chris Post, Ph.D., speaker for the annual Jerry M. Lewis May 4 Lecture Series and Luncheon.

The lessons of Kent State should not go unremembered, President Todd Diacon writes in this opinion piece published in Inside Higher Ed.

Tonight, the annual candlelight walk and vigil continues a 53-year tradition as part of this week's May 4 Commemoration.