Kent State Shootings: Oral Histories

James W. Sprance Oral History

Kent State Shootings: Oral Histories

James W. Sprance Oral History

Transcription Show Transcript
Narrator Sprance, James W.
Narrator's Role Student at Kent State University in 1970
Date of Interview 2000-05-04
Description James W. Sprance was a junior at Kent State University in 1970 and he discusses his memories of the days surrounding the May 4, 1970, shootings on campus. He describes the military presence on campus: the troops, personnel carriers, jeeps, helicopters, and searchlights that he saw. He relates his memories of Monday, May 4 in detail; he was in The Commons and gives his eyewitness account of the shootings. He was located near the burned ROTC Military Science Building in a crowd of about 500 people that he characterizes as calm; he says that he spent part of the time there discussing a class with one of his professors. He describes seeing tear gas canisters being thrown back and forth, the movement of the Guard, the arrival of the ambulances, the crowd reforming on the hill after the shootings, and Professor Glenn Frank talking to the crowd. He concludes by discussing his experiences as he left Kent after the campus had been closed and some of the difficulties he had that following summer.
Length of Interview 23:54 minutes
Places Discussed Kent (Ohio)
Time Period discussed 1970
Subject(s) Ambulances
College students--Ohio--Kent--Interviews
Eyewitness accounts
Firearms
Frank, Glenn W.
Helicopters
Kent State Shootings, Kent, Ohio, 1970
Kent State University. ROTC Building--Fires
Ohio. Army National Guard
Searchlights
Students--Ohio--Kent--Interviews
Tear gas munitions
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