Working Class Calendar

Jackson State Killings (1970)

Thu May 14, 1970

Image: Two students at Jackson State peer from a window that was shot out by police on campus in May 1970. Jack Thornell/AP [npr.org]

On this day in 1970, a confrontation began between Jackson State University students and local police, leading to the police opening fire on the crowd, firing more than 460 shots, killing two youths and wounding a dozen more. The murders took place just ten days after the Kent State Massacre.

On the evening of May 14th, over 100 students had gathered on Lynch Street (named after Reconstruction era legislator John Lynch) and were reportedly pelting rocks at white motorists. Tensions increased when a false rumor spread that Charles Evers, older brother of Medgar Evers and a civil rights activist in his own right, had been killed.

The police responded in force; at least 75 Jackson police units from the city of Jackson and the Mississippi Highway Patrol attempted to control the crowd, while firemen extinguished fires that had been set. After the firefighters had left the scene, the police moved to disperse the crowd that had gathered in front of Alexander Hall, a women's dormitory.

Just after midnight, the police opened fire on the building. The gunfire lasted for 30 seconds and more than 460 shots were fired. Every window on the narrow side of the building facing Lynch Street was shattered and two people were killed, one a seventeen year old at a nearby high school. Twelve more were wounded.

• Date: 1970-05-14
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.npr.org, www.zinnedproject.org.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org