Single sleeve for the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young “Ohio”
"Ohio" is a protest song written and composed by Neil Young in
reaction to the Kent State shootings of May 4, 1970 after having
seen photos of the incident in Life Magazine. It was recorded at
Record Plant Studio 3 in Hollywood. The song peaked at #14 on
the Billboard Hot 100.
Neil Young
Crosby, Stills, and Nash in 2007
The Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire on students during an anti-
Vietnam war protest at Kent State University. Four students were killed
and nine others were wounded.
At Kent State University a demonstration with about 500 students was held
on Friday, May 1 on the Commons, a grassy knoll in the center of campus. As
the crowd dispersed without incident to attend classes by 1 pm that afternoon,
another rally was planned for Monday, May 4 to continue the protest of president
Nixon’s expansion of the Vietnam War into Cambodia.
The campus of Kent State University in Ohio
The route is memorialized as the Selma To Montgomery Voting Rights Trail
The Selma to Montgomery marches were a series three marches that marked the
peak of the American civil rights movement. They grew out of the voting rights
movement in Selma, Alabama. The third march of 25,000 people concluded at
the steps of the State Capitol Building where Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered
his “How Long, Not Long” speech (below).
Thousands in the Berkeley Free Speech Movement gathered on the steps of Sproul
Hall, the administration building at the University of California campus to protest four students being disciplined for distributing political literature. The leader of the orderly
sit-in was Mario Savio, seen below delivering his famous speech. Joan Baez was
there to lead in the singing, and to lend moral support. Shortly after 2 am on Dec.
4th, police cordoned off the building, and at 3:30 am began arresting close to 800 students.
Joan Baez
Police arresting student protesters
