Kent State University's annual remembrance of the day Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire on anti-Vietnam war protesters, killing four students and wounding nine others, is set to get underway on Friday.
The year's commemoration opens with an art exhibit in the May 4 Visitor Center celebrating the life and activism of Dean Kahler, who was wounded in the shooting and partially paralyzed. Kahler has dedicated his life to advocating for disability rights and democratic engagement.
The featured artists are students from Stark County Educational Service Center who collaborated with BZTAT studios, an art gallery and workspace located in Canton. In addition to examining Kahler’s experiences, the artists studied their own experiences with disabilities in creating collages from re-imagined objects from everyday life.
Vicki Boatwright owns BZTAT Studios and worked alongside the students. She hopes the exhibition will make people realize Kahler’s impact on disability advocacy.
“One thing I want people to realize is that May 4 was his one bad day,” Boatwright said. “But following that, he has done so much to make many better days for a lot of people.”
The fifth annual Jerry M. Lewis May 4 lecture also takes place on Friday. Lewis was a faculty marshal at the time of shooting and subsequently dedicated his life to preserving the legacy of May 4.
Lewis died in February.
Ohio Northern University professor David Strittmatter will deliver this year’s lecture which will focus on his project to document the stories of guardsmen who were on Kent State’s campus on May 4, 1970. It’s an effort that began on the 50th anniversary during a lunch with his colleagues.
“I heard a lot from students and protesters and faculty and even townspeople, but the voice that I didn’t hear was that of the guardsmen, one of the main roles in this tragedy,” Strittmatter said.
Strittmatter and his students have interviewed 20 guardsmen so far.
“I hope to bring a little bit of humanity to the guardsman, at some level,” Strittmatter said. “It’s easy to do this, but I don’t think it is necessarily accurate to paint all of the guardsmen with the same brush.”
On Saturday, as part of the university’s May 4 commemoration this year, a Neil Young tribute band will play at Kent Stage, a venue just off campus. Young wrote the song “Ohio” in response to the shootings and performed the song alongside David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash.
Two members from the tribute band will also play an acoustic set during the annual candlelight vigil later in the day.
On May 3, the university will dedicate the Alan Canfora May 4 Collection, followed by a reception in the university’s library at 3 p.m. Canfora, who was another of the nine students wounded, spent his life collecting memorabilia connected to May 4, 1970. Canfora had everything from anti-war buttons to trial transcripts in his personal collection which was considererd the largest-known private collection of May 4 documents. He died in 2020.
His sister, Roseann “Chic” Canfora, who helped organize her brother’s collection, realized the impact it has on documenting what happened during the shootings.
“It really humanizes the effort of a handful of people that devoted their entire life to making sure nobody ever forgets what happened on May 4, 1970,” Canfora said. “My brother embodies that and modeled, for many of us, what it means to be truly committed to this cause and stay committed until we are gone, knowing that we have left a legacy of teaching and learning for others to carry forward.”
The annual candlelight vigil will take place at 11 p.m. on May 3 and has been a centerpiece for commemorating May 4. It began a year after the shooting when Jerry Lewis worked alongside students to organize it.
In addition to Lewis, this year’s commemoration will also remember another of the nine wounded students who died in the past year.
John Cleary was a freshman trying to take a photo of the National Guard marching away from protestors when they opened fire. A bullet pierced Cleary’s lung, knocking him unconscious.
As students tended to Cleary, another student, Howard Ruffner, captured the scene with his camera. The photo was featured on the cover of Life Magazine two weeks later.
Cleary died in October.
The Kent State community will meet on the campus commons on May 4 to mark the anniversary itself with students and faculty scheduled to speak and for the ringing of the Victory Bell. A moment of silence will be observed at 12:24 p.m.
You can find more details on all of the events planned as part of this year’s remembrance.
