By Melody Gustafson and Mike CanadayKENT – In recent years, a group of professionals and alumni, including KSU-EL’s own Dr. Carole Barbato, keenly felt that history, when forgotten, will repeat. The sobering lessons that rose from the blood and ashes of the incidents surrounding the May 4 tragedies are too valuable to allow them to vaporize with the years.
To that end, Barbato discussed the initiative in detail: "On May 3, the university will dedicate the May 4 site that has been recently placed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Site Walking Tour . The historic site consists of 17.4 acres in the heart of the Kent State campus. Visitors to the campus can pick up a walking tour brochure near the May 4 memorial. They can then follow the trail markers scattered throughout the historic site. The trail markers contain photographs from the time, text, and quotes or a timeline. While viewing the site visitors can also listen to a narration of the tour by noted civil right activist, Julian Bond, by dialing on their telephones 330-672-MAY 4. During May 1-4, video documentaries will be available for visitors to use during the walking tour. The videos were created by Dr. Steve Zapytowski after he and Dr. Barbato examined 4,000 photographs taken during May 1-4, 1970.
"In addition to the walking tour, the university is in the design and fundraising phrase to create the May 4 Visitors Center. It will be a permanent exhibit in Taylor Hall overlooking the historic site. The exhibit places the events of May 4 in the context of the 1960s and discusses lessons that can be learned. You can follow the progress of the Visitors Center by joining the cause on facebook."
Click here to connect: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?%23!/pages/May-4-Visitors-Center/145400647544?ref=ts%20 . More details on the May 4 Visitors Center are at: http://www.kent.edu/may4%20 .
Eastern Flash staff members enjoyed the 50-minute walking tour experience with live guides: Alan Canfora, director of the May 4 Center and shooting victim; Provost of the Office of May 4 Initiative, Laura Da
vis; Dr. Barbato, event expert and aftermath witness.Canfora’s personal articulation of the melee begins April 30, 1970 when Nixon announced the invasion of Cambodia. Already a common location for anti-war rallies, the commons near Taylor Hall became the site of instigation. At noon May 1, the Victory Bell, called students to gather to rally.
Canfora said “there was protest in the air” the night of May 2, when “the ROTC building burned to the ground.” The building was a center of controversy; students were repulsed by a military recruiter on the campus, the domain of scholarship. After several failed attempts, the building caught fire at last. When the firemen responded, they brought with them “the country sheriff, state boys, city cops, campus police and tear gas,” he said.
According to Canfora, on May 3, 1200 guardsmen came to Kent in military vehicles and occupied the main street, and Gov. Rhodes held a news conference that day, seizing “a photo opportunity” two days before the election. He “exaggerated the situation and demonized KSU students,” said Canfora. Later, he described a scene in which the governor’s speech had elevated the situation to a point wherein guardsmen were beating people with clubs and stabbing students with bayonets.
Canfora narrated the events of May 4 in depth for a crowd of students, alumni and community members: “It was a 24-minute hunting expedition. Armed men with deadly rifles were marching around chasing people. They shot at people they specifically wanted to shoot, but at the same time they shot non-protesters who were simply walking to class.”
Canfora dived behind a tree under gunfire, but still sustained a gunshot wound to the wrist. He hitchhiked to the hospital because the two ambulances weren’t sufficient, even for the mortally wounded.
The dead, shot because they allegedly posed threats to the armed guards, are: Sandra Scheuer, neck wound from 390 ft.; Jeffrey Miller, mouth wound from 265 ft., Allison Krause, chest wound at 343 ft.; and William Schroeder, chest wound from 343 ft.
In the days immediately after, the tragedy effectually stimulated activism nationwide and led to the National Student Strike of 1970. Across the country, 450 high school or college campuses were shut down by violent and non-violent protests.
Stories like this are what visitors will find when they walk the tour. Multimedia documentary programs have been created for the marker stops and one can download them to cell phones or other portable devices provided by the center, on site.
The center, located at 101 Taylor Hall, is open from noon to 10 p.m. on May 1 and 2; 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on May 3; and 10 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. on May 4.
During the entire month of May art by E.A. Meuser will be on display at Taylor Hall and in dowtown Kent at the McKay Bricker Gallery at 141 East Main Street. The artist will donate all proceeds to the May 4 Visitor's Center.
For more information on opportunities to make a monetary gift to the May 4 Visitor’s Center, please call the office of Institutional Advancement at 330-672-2222 or email to advancement@kent.edu. To view a list of events for Commemoration Week, click here:
http://www.kent.edu/about/may4commemoration/events-listing.cfm .
Photos from top: (1)This is the front of Taylor Hall, and this is the location of the infamous shootings. The May 4 Visitor's Center is around back. (2) Canfora, Barbato and Davis with a crowd of avid listeners on one of the permanent memorial sites that mark the spots where the dead had fallen.
