The Jackson State killings occurred on Friday, May 15, 1970, at Jackson State College (now

Jackson State University Jackson State University (Jackson State or JSU) is a public historically black research university in Jackson, Mississippi. It is one of the largest HBCUs in the United States and the fourth largest university in Mississippi in terms of studen ...

) in

Jackson, Mississippi Jackson, officially the City of Jackson, is the capital of and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city is also one of two county seats of Hinds County, along with Raymond. The city had a population of 153,701 at t ...

. On May 14, 1970,

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

and state police confronted a group of students outside a campus dormitory. Shortly after midnight, the police opened fire, killing two students and injuring twelve. The event happened 11 days after the

Kent State shootings The Kent State shootings, also known as the May 4 massacre and the Kent State massacre,"These would be the first of many probes into what soon became known as the Kent State Massacre. Like the Boston Massacre almost exactly two hundred years bef ...

, in which National Guardsmen killed four students at

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in ...

in Ohio during a protest against the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. This event had first captured national attention.

Timeline

On the evening of Thursday, May 14, a group of around 100 black students had gathered on Lynch Street (named after the black

Reconstruction era The Reconstruction era was a period in American history following the American Civil War (1861–1865) and lasting until approximately the Compromise of 1877. During Reconstruction, attempts were made to rebuild the country after the bloo ...

US Representative

John R. Lynch John Roy Lynch (September 10, 1847 – November 2, 1939) was an American writer, attorney, military officer, author, and Republican politician who served as Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives and represented Mississippi in ...

), which bisected the campus. The students "were reportedly pelting rocks at white motorists driving down the main road through campus — frequently the site of confrontations between white and black Jackson residents." The police responded in force. At least 75 Jackson police units from the city of Jackson and the

Mississippi Highway Patrol The Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol is the highway patrol and acting state police agency for the U.S. state of Mississippi, and has law enforcement jurisdiction over the majority of the state. The Mississippi Highway Patrol specializes in the ...

attempted to control the crowd while the firemen extinguished the fires.The Report of the President's Commission on Campus Unrest
William W. Scranton, Chairman, US Government Printing Office, 1970, pg. 422-424. Retrieved August 15, 2009 from ERIC.ed.gov After the firefighters had left the scene shortly before midnight, the police moved to disperse the crowd that had gathered in front of Alexander Hall, a women's

dormitory A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or universi ...

. Advancing to within 50 to 100 feet (15 to 30 m) of the crowd, officers at roughly 12:05 a.m opened fire on the dormitory. The exact cause of the shooting and the moments leading up to it are unclear. Authorities say they saw a

sniper A sniper is a military/paramilitary marksman who engages targets from positions of concealment or at distances exceeding the target's detection capabilities. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped with high-precision r ...

on one of the building's upper floors and were being shot at from all directions. Later, two city policemen and one state patrolman reported minor injuries from flying glass. An FBI search for evidence of sniper fire found none. The students said that they had not provoked the officers. The gunfire lasted for 30 seconds and more than 460 shots were fired by a reported 40 state highway patrolmen, who used shotguns from a distance of 30 to 50 feet. Every window was shattered by gunfire on the narrow side of the building facing Lynch Street. The crowd scattered, and a number of people were trampled, or cut by falling glass. Phillip Lafayette Gibbs, 21, a junior, and James Earl Green, 17, a senior and miler at nearby

Jim Hill High School Jim Hill High School is a public high school in Jackson, Mississippi, United States, hosting the state's first International Baccalaureate Diploma (IB) program. It hosts Advanced Placement courses, a JROTC, and a SOAR program. History Jim Hi ...

, were killed, and twelve others were wounded. Gibbs was fatally shot near Alexander Hall by buckshot, and Green was killed behind the police line in front of B. F. Roberts Hall, also by shotgun.

Aftermath

President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

established the President's Commission on Campus Unrest to investigate both the Jackson State and Kent State events. Public hearings were held in Los Angeles, Washington, DC, and at Kent State. No arrests were made in connection with the deaths at Jackson State, but the Commission concluded "that the 28-second fusillade from police officers was an unreasonable, unjustified overreaction.... A broad barrage of gunfire in response to reported and unconfirmed sniper fire is never warranted." The university has memorialized the occurrence by naming the area of the shootings as Gibbs-Green Plaza, after the two young men killed. The plaza is a large, multi-level brick and concrete patio and mall on the eastern side of the school's campus; it borders J. R. Lynch Street and links Alexander Hall to the University Green. A large stone monument in front of Alexander Hall near the plaza also honors the two victims. Damage is still visible on the façade of Alexander Hall; it was caused by the rounds fired by the police. In December 1970, a

federal grand jury Grand juries in the United States are groups of citizens empowered by United States federal or state law to conduct legal proceedings, chiefly investigating potential criminal conduct and determining whether criminal charges should be brought ...

was discharged after it had failed to produce an

indictment An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felonies, the most serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use the felonies concept often use that ...

or written findings in a five-month recess. It had summoned about 40 state patrolmen and 26 city police officers. In 2021, a long-awaited formal public apology was granted at Jackson State University’s official Commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 15th. The apology reflected 51 years of contemplation regarding the event, now historically known as “The Jackson State Killings.” The outlined incident took place proximal to 2021’s ceremony location. However, it was named Jackson State College at the time of the 1970 killings. The two men killed, Phillip L. Gibbs and James Earl Green, were awarded posthumous honorary doctorate degrees at 2021’s graduation, which were accepted by family members on their behalf. Commencement speakers represented local and state leaders of Mississippi: Mayor

Chokwe Antar Lumumba Chokwe Antar Lumumba (born March 29, 1983) is an American attorney, activist, and politician serving as the 53rd mayor of Jackson, Mississippi, the 7th consecutive African-American to hold the position. He was first elected in 2017. In the prim ...

of Jackson, and State Senator

Hillman Terome Frazier Hillman Terome Frazier (born July 17, 1950 in Jackson) is an American politician who is a Democratic member of the Mississippi Senate; he has represented the 27th District since 1993. A Protestant, he is married to the former Jean Clayton. F ...

, respectively. The leaders said that the formal apology was to “…publicly atone for the sins of our past and proclaim a new identity of dignity, equity and justice.”‘Sins of our past’: Apologies for 1970 Jackson St. shootings, (Emily Wagster Pettus, AP), ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'', 05/15/2021 ccessed 16 May 2021/ref>

Notes

References

JACKSON STATE MAY 1970

Kenfour, Home of the May 4th Task Force

External links

"Lynch Street: The May 1970 Slayings at Jackson State College" by Tim Spofford

* ttp://www.democracynow.org/2010/5/14/40_years_ago_police_kill_two 40 Years Ago: Police Kill Two Students at Jackson State in Mississippi– video report by ''

Democracy Now! ''Democracy Now!'' is an hour-long American TV, radio, and Internet news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman (who also acts as the show's executive producer), Juan González, and Nermeen Shaikh. The show, which airs live each weekday at ...

Timeline

Aftermath

See also

Notes

References

External links