“Armed With Our Voices,” the May 4 Listening Wall Exhibit. The tragedy revealed the grave consequences that result when communication collapses. Today, polarized perspectives, divided communities and school violence are commonplace. As we approach the 50th Commemoration of the May 4 tragedy, the Wick Poetry Center, with its partners, has developed an interactive exhibit, encouraging visitors to explore the history of student protest and the timely themes of peace and conflict transformation.
This website honors the lives of Jeff, Allison, Bill and Sandy. It is the product of a multiyear collaboration between Glyphix, a student design firm, and the May 4 Visitors Center with special thanks to the May 4 families and friends.
Part of 50 Years: Long Live the Memory programming, this exhibit showcases selected key events in and around Jackson State University (Jackson, MS), South Carolina State University (Orangeburg, SC), and Kent State University (Kent, OH) from 1960-1967. Civil rights actions, anti-war protests, and an emerging Black Power movement are featured. Curated by Cara Gilgenbach, Special Collections and Archives, Kent State University Libraries.
This exhibition features posters, flyers, and other items created by the May 4th Task Force, a student-run organization founded in 1975 to raise awareness among students, faculty, administrators and the general public about the Kent State shootings of May 4, 1970. Curated by Haley Antell, Special Collections and Archives, Kent State University Libraries.
RMay 4: Through the Looking Glass, created within Kent State University’s School of Emerging Media and Technology in collaboration with Alan Canfora, is an interactive exhibition that seeks to open up new spaces for thinking and feeling the profound legacies of May 4, 1970.
In the aftermath of the shootings of May 4, 1970, Kent State University Libraries sent letters to colleges and universities across the nation requesting campus strike newspapers and related documents to be archived for future research. This exhibit highlights a selection of the responses that are found in the Campus Strike papers in Special Collections and Archives. Curated by Anita Clary, Special Collections and Archives, Kent State University Libraries.
Showcased in this exhibit is the activism of Black students at South Carolina State College, Kent State University and Jackson State College and images of the shootings which occurred there. While the focus of the shootings at Kent State University has historically been on the anti-war activism of the students, this exhibit seeks to frame the activism in a larger political, social and cultural context, examining the civil rights struggles of the time and the self-determination of Black students in particular.
The Wick Poetry Center collected more than 600 poems resonating with the themes of peace, conflict transformation and student advocacy. View the winners, entries and poster artwork. Winners were chosen by Naomi Shihab Nye.