Kent State Remembered: A girl screams before the body of a dead student lying face down on the campus of Kent State University in 1970. National Guardsmen had fired into a crowd of demonstrators and four persons were reported dead in the disorders

© John Filo

Kent State Remembered: A girl screams before the body of a dead student lying face down on the campus of Kent State University in 1970. National Guardsmen had fired into a crowd of demonstrators and four persons were reported dead in the disorders

Currently not on view

Kent State Remembered: A girl screams before the body of a dead student lying face down on the campus of Kent State University in 1970. National Guardsmen had fired into a crowd of demonstrators and four persons were reported dead in the disorders,

May 4, 1970

John Filo, born 1948, Natrona Heights, PA
2018-67
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More Context

At Kent State University armed members of the Ohio National Guard were deployed on May 4, 1970, to respond to approximately five hundred student demonstrators. Four unarmed students were fatally shot by Guardsmen and nine more were wounded. When the shots rang out, senior John Filo was working in the student photography lab. During the confrontation and ensuing chaos, he captured the agonized expression of fourteen-year-old Mary Vecchio as she kneeled over the body of Jeffrey Miller. Widely published, Filo’s Pulitzer prize–winning image transcended documentary photography to become an icon of the Vietnam War era, a signifier to this day of student protest and collective condemnation of violence.

Information

Title
Kent State Remembered: A girl screams before the body of a dead student lying face down on the campus of Kent State University in 1970. National Guardsmen had fired into a crowd of demonstrators and four persons were reported dead in the disorders
Dates

May 4, 1970

Maker
John Filo
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
image: 16.3 × 25 cm (6 7/16 × 9 13/16 in.) sheet: 19 × 26 cm (7 1/2 × 10 1/4 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund
Object Number
2018-67
Place Depicted

North America, United States, Ohio, Kent, Kent State University

Signatures
Stamped, press caption on verso
Marks/Labels/Seals
Caption affixed to top of print: (NY7-May 3) - - KENT STATE REMEMBERED - A girl screams before the body of a dead student lying | face down on the campus of Kent State University in 1970. National Guardsmen had fired into | a crowd of demonstrators and four persons were reported dead in the disorders (mmm52355fls/ | Copyright Valley Daily News) 1985 Slug: Kent State
Culture
American
Type
gelatin silver prints, photographs
Techniques
gelatin silver process
Subject
women, universities, deaths, men, photojournalism

Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund

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The Museum regularly researches its objects and their collecting histories, updating its records to reflect new information. We also strive to catalogue works of art using language that is consistent with how people, subjects, artists, and cultures describe themselves. As this effort is ongoing, the Museum’s records may be incomplete or contain terms that are no longer acceptable. We welcome your feedback, questions, and additional information that you feel may be useful to us. Email us at collectionsinfo@princeton.edu.

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