Kent State Shootings: Oral Histories

Diane L. Williams Oral History

Kent State Shootings: Oral Histories

Diane L. Williams Oral History

Transcription Show Transcript
Narrator Williams, Diane L.
Narrator's Role Student at Kent State University School in 1970
Date of Interview 1990-04-29
Description A high school student at the Kent State University School in 1970, Diane L. Williams discusses her memories and observations of the events that took place in Kent during the days preceding the shootings. She describes the National Guard using pellet guns to move crowds of students back onto campus from downtown Kent on Friday, May 1. She describes what it was like to have the City of Kent under martial law. She was in The Commons on May 4 and relates her eyewitness account of the shootings. She heard Glenn Frank warning the crowd that the National Guard had live ammunition, not pellet guns, and she describes taking cover behind a car and watching as that car was pierced by a bullet. She also discusses the design of the May 4 Memorial on the Kent State University campus.
Length of Interview 15:10 minutes
Places Discussed Kent (Ohio)
Time Period discussed 1970, 1990
Subject(s) Crowds--Ohio--Kent
Eyewitness accounts
Frank, Glenn W.
Helicopters
Kent State Memorial (Kent, Ohio)
Kent State Shootings, Kent, Ohio, 1970
Martial law--Ohio--Kent
Ohio. Army National Guard
Roadblocks (Police methods)
Students--Ohio--Kent--Interviews
Repository Special Collections and Archives
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Institution Kent State University
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Disclaimer The content of oral history interviews, written narratives and commentaries is personal and interpretive in nature, relying on memories, experiences, perceptions, and opinions of individuals. They do not represent the policy, views or official history of Kent State University and the University makes no assertions about the veracity of statements made by individuals participating in the project. Users are urged to independently corroborate and further research the factual elements of these narratives especially in works of scholarship and journalism based in whole or in part upon the narratives shared in the May 4 Collection and the Kent State Shootings Oral History Project.
Provenance/Collection May 4 Collection