Mission
The heart and soul of this film are the interviews with over twenty of the people who were at Kent State together during the protests and the events before, after and during the shootings on May 4, 1970. Our mission is to tell a story that enlightens people just a little bit about the days of the sixties that are hidden or not well known, that were real and not perfect, but that in the end, were celebratory and risky and maybe even, a little bit righteous in doing so.
Synopsis
Fire in the Heartland: THE KENT STATE STORY is the story of the struggle of a generation of students at Kent State University who stood up in the 1960s and 70s for Civil Rights and against racism, violence, and the war in Vietnam, and paid for it with their lives.
“The Kent State shooting was a very dramatic and terrible event and deserves to be remembered as one of those shameful things in American history.”
Howard Zinn | HISTORIAN
Selected Interviews
Featured
Fire in the Heartland made its premiere as a rough-cut for the Cleveland International Film Festival. Critically acclaimed, it is distributed originally through National Educational Television Association (NETA) and by American Public Television World and aired nationally on public television on over 300 stations with 606 telecasts. Now the Director’s Cut is available for distribution.
Behind the Scenes
The Tent City Story
Tent City
May 4, 1977-May 13, 1977-July 12, 1970
A Tribute and Memoriam
To one of the longest and most hard-fought post 1960 student protests for truth, civil rights, memory and justice in America 7 years after the May 4, 1970 Shootings at Kent State
Many know the story of the shootings at Kent State. Few know the story of the spirit of protests sparked by the wounded KSU students who with other Kent State student activists worked to keep the spirit, history, and truth of the civil Kent State student civil rights and anti-war movements and the shootings at Kent State alive. Tent City was a manifestation of this spirit and the result of the efforts to erase rather than preserve the truth and memory of the events of May 4, 1970. As Alan Canfora, Chic Canfora, Ken Hammond and Tom Grace all have said of the Tent City Protests that the 1977 Tent City protests demonstrated to the world that student protest in America for truth, equality, and justice, and the lives of those who sacrificed them for these causes, was still alive and well, and would never be forgotten, at Kent State University. In honor of Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Lee Scheuer, and Bill Schroeder, who died on May 4, 1970 and those who fought to preserve the truth of their sacrifice. And in honor of Alan Canfora, wounded on May 4, 1970, who spent his life honoring preserving the truth of the shootings at Kent State, and May, June and July of 1977 doing so at Tent City.