On this day in 1970, the Kent State Massacre took place when the National Guard fired on unarmed Kent State University protesters, causing 13 casualties. Just 10 days later, 2 students were killed by police at Jackson State University.

The killings took place during a peace rally against the expanding involvement of the Vietnam War into neutral Cambodia by U.S. forces, as well as the National Guard presence on campus.

On May 4th, an estimated 2,000 people gathered on the university's Commons, near Taylor Hall. After the National Guard attempted to disperse the crowd, armed guardsmen began firing on the protesters. Four students were killed and nine were wounded, nearly all more than two hundred feet away from the guardsmen.

The Kent State Massacre marked the first time that a student had been slain in an anti-war gathering in U.S. history. Just ten days after the Kent State shootings, however, two student protesters were killed (and 12 wounded) by police at Jackson State University in Mississippi.