Kent State, Location Of The Tragic Event Of May 4, 1970

Image Via Wikipedia

The tragic event of May 4, 1970, when National Guardsmen fired upon protesting students, killing four of them – Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Scheuer and William Schroeder, incited many musicians to put their feelings about the incident in to their songs.

The now famous protest song “Ohio“, was written by Neil Young and issued within 8 days of the event. Within two-and-a-half weeks of the Kent State shootings, “Ohio” was receiving national airplay.

Other musicians recorded their own protest songs including:

• “Student Demonstration Time” by The Beach Boys on the album Surf’s Up.
• “Jackson-Kent Blues” by the The Steve Miller Band on the album Number 5.
• “The Knife” by Genesis recreates the events from the perspective of the Guards in the song on the album Trespass

The University keeps a page on their website dedicated to the event here.

Kent State
161 Schwartz Center
Kent, OH 44242
330 672-2444