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43rd Commemoration of May 4 Set at Kent State
KENT, Ohio -- Kent State University will hold its 43rd annual commemoration of May 4, 1970, with events scheduled for Thursday through Sunday. The annual observance of the deaths of four students at the hands of the Ohio National Guard brings the university community together to reflect on what May 4 means today, university officials say.
A preview of the video production "May 4th Voices" will be held 7 p.m. Thursday at the Kent Stage in the downtown. The production will have its premiere at 10:30 p.m. Friday on Western Reserve PBS (WNEO 45.1/WEAO 49.1). The play was written by David Hassler, director of the Wick Poetry Center at Kent State underwritten by an Ohio Humanities Council grant.
“The play stemmed from the ‘Kent State Shootings Oral History Project,’” Hassler said in a prepared statement. “There are more than 115 interviews with guardsmen, students, townspeople and politicians that document personal narratives and reactions of May 4 and its aftermath. The voices in the play were woven together anonymously to tell the human story and emotional truth of the tragic events.”
The speakers’ program, hosted by the May 4 Task Force, is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. Friday in the Kent Student Center Kiva. Speakers are activists Tom Hayden and Bill Ayers.
The annual candlelight march begins at 10:30 p.m. Friday at the Kent State Commons. A vigil follows until 12:24 p.m. Saturday, with people standing at the spots where the four students -- Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Scheuer and William Schroeder -- fell.
The commemoration continues with the dedication of the May 4 Visitors Center Saturday. Featured speakers are film director and producer Oliver Stone and PBS news anchor Gwen Ifill. Ifill, moderator and managing editor of “Washington Week” and co-anchor of "PBS NewsHour," will moderate a panel discussion, the “Historical Significance of May 4 and the Visitors Center,” from 4 to 6 p.m. in the University Auditorium at Cartwright Hall.
Following the panel discussion, Stone, an Oscar-winning director, producer and screen writer, will offer his thoughts, “History and Memory in Film,” based on his movies that depict ’60s-era events, from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Both events are free and open to the public, with seats available on a first-come basis. A reception at 9 p.m. will follow Stone’s presentation in the atrium of Cartwright Hall.
For more information about May 4, Kent State’s May 4 Visitors Center and dedication events for the visitors center, visit the website below. For information about the May 4 Task Force and this year’s May 4 Commemoration events, visit www.m4tf.org.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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