Kent State University’s annual commemoration of the May 4, 1970, shootings included a series of arts and music events this year marking the 56th anniversary of the day Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire on anti-war demonstrators, killing four students and injuring nine others. The 2026 programming opened April 25 with an exhibition in the May 4 Visitor Center created by students from Stark County Educational Service Center in collaboration with Canton-based BZTAT Studios. The work, a series of collages examining disability experiences through reimagined everyday objects, honors Dean Kahler, a survivor of the shootings who went on to become a disability rights advocate.

On April 26, Kent Stage hosted a Neil Young tribute band performing songs connected to the events of May 4, including “Ohio,” the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young song written in direct response to the shootings. Two members of the tribute band also performed an acoustic set during the annual candlelight vigil. May 3 featured the dedication of the Alan Canfora May 4 Collection at a library reception — Canfora, a survivor who was wounded in the shooting, assembled what is believed to be the largest-known private collection of May 4 documents. The main commemoration on May 4 included a moment of silence at 12:24 p.m. at the campus commons, followed by student and faculty speakers and the ringing of the Victory Bell.

This year’s commemoration also served as a remembrance for two participants who died in the past year: John Cleary, a survivor, who died in October 2025, and Jerry Lewis, a sociologist who studied the events for decades and for whom the annual lecture series is named, who died in February 2026. The fifth annual Jerry M. Lewis May 4 Lecture was delivered by David Strittmatter, an Ohio Northern University professor documenting oral histories of National Guardsmen present at the shootings.

Source: Ideastream Public Media