heard, and the guards opened fire at the crowd. The shooting lasted for thirteen seconds, and in that time, four people were killed and nine others were wounded (Dunnigan 264). The Kent State killings sparked protests across the country. More than four hundred universities and colleges shut down as students and professors staged strikes, and nearly a hundred thousand demonstrators marched on Washington Avenue, encircling the White House and other government buildings (Karnow 89). Another of the major demonstrations expressing unrest on college campuses during the Vietnam War took place in 1970 at Jackson State College. This Mississippi school was brought into the spotlight in May of that year as students held demonstrations protesting racial and civil inequalities and the recent killings of students at Kent State University. During this riot, fires were lit across campus and a truck was flipped over. When firefighters determined that they could not calm the riot alone, they phoned for police assistance. Around seventy-five officers were dispatched to the scene at Jackson State loaded with ammunition and ready to take any action necessary to put the violent protests to a halt (Jackson1-2). The police made efforts to enter both male and female dormitories in order to help put out the fires, but students formed a blockade and refused to let them through. Within minutes police officers began firing shots into the crowd. In the end the lives of around fifteen students were taken that day as a result of police shootings, and many other young people were badly injured. Following this vicious incident, Mississippi state police refused to comment that they had in fact played a major role in the violent retaliation at Jackson State that day (Jackson 1-2). The following June, President Nixon responded when he called for the Commission on Campus Unrest. Several hearings were held concerning the turmoil at Jackson State, but despite the testimo...
