Jackson State killings

32°17′51″N 90°12′27″W / 32.29750°N 90.20750°W / 32.29750; -90.20750

Jackson State killings
LocationJackson, Mississippi
DateMay 15, 1970
12:05 a.m. (Central: UTC−6)
Deaths2
Injured12
VictimsPhillip Lafayette Gibbs
James Earl Green
PerpetratorsJackson Police Department
Mississippi Highway Patrol

The Jackson State killings occurred on Friday, May 15, 1970, at Jackson State College (now Jackson State University) in Jackson, Mississippi. On May 14, 1970, city 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.[1] The event happened 11 days after the Kent State shootings, in which National Guardsmen killed four students at Kent State University in Ohio during a protest against the Vietnam War. The Kent State event had first captured national attention.

  1. ^ Review of Lynch Street: The May 1970 Slayings at Jackson State College (Tim Spofford), Review author: William M. Simpson, The Journal of Southern History, Vol. 56, No. 1. (Feb., 1990), pp. 159–160.