Tragedy and Triumph: The Lives of the Gibbs-Green Survivors
When Jackson City Police and Mississippi Highway Patrolmen marched on the campus of then Jackson State College during the night and early hours of May 14 and 15, 1970, they unleashed several hundred rounds of ammunition in every direction.
This exhibition, Tragedy and Triumph: The Lives of the Gibbs-Green Survivors, honors the men and women who endured that vicious police attack in May 1970. Despite the terror that they faced 50 years ago, these people and their families have built lives of resiliency, not as victims but as survivors.
Dale Gibbs, Phillip Gibbs Jr., Demetrius Gibbs, and Cierra Gibbs
Mattie Green Hull, Gloria Green McCray, & Constance Slaughter-Harvey (Credit: Aron Smith/University Communications)
Vernon Steve Weakley
Leroy Kenter, Jr.
Gloria Mayhorn
Climmie Johnson
While Phillip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green lost their lives that night, a dozen others were wounded by the police gunfire, including:
Vernon Steve Weakley Leroy Kenter, Jr. Gloria Mayhorn Climmie Johnson Fonzie Coleman Andrea Reese Stella Spinks Lonzie Thompson Redd Wilson, Jr. Tuwaine Davis Willie Woodward
Black-and-white photograph of demonstrators marching through downtown Jackson, Mississippi, to protest the May 15, 1970, shootings at Jackson State College.
Hundreds were impacted directly and indirectly, physically and psychologically, that evening. Even if their names are not listed, this exhibition is meant to lift up all of them in recognition of the tragedy that they endured and the triumph they have forged since that fateful night.
Find out more about the Gibbs-Green tragedy and the night of May 14 and 15, 1970, in the Gibbs-Green Story section. For more information on the “Tragedy and Triumph: The Lives of the Gibbs-Green Survivors” commemorative exhibit, visit our main website.
