The National Guard Takes Defensive Position, Kent State University
Artistattributed to
Howard Ruffner
(American, born about 1947)
DateMay 4, 1970
Mediumgelatin silver print
Dimensionsimage: 15.2 x 21 cm (6 x 8 1/4 in.)
sheet: 17.4 x 23 cm (6 7/8 x 9 1/16 in.)
frame: 40.2 x 45.3 cm (15 13/16 x 17 13/16 in.)
sheet: 17.4 x 23 cm (6 7/8 x 9 1/16 in.)
frame: 40.2 x 45.3 cm (15 13/16 x 17 13/16 in.)
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineGift of Howard G. Davis, III A.K.A. David Davis
Object number2011.134
Label TextWhile working for the university student newspaper on the morning of May 4, Ruffner took a call from the "Life" magazine Chicago bureau. They asked if anyone in the office could cover the demonstrations on campus, and he took the assignment. “I was standing to the right of the Guard when the shooting started . . . In a few seconds it was over and I began to photograph the wounded and dying. People kept saying, ‘No pictures, don’t take any pictures,’ but I had to. I knew pictures were the only way to tell this story.”On View
Not on view
