1970 Student Protest Movement

All over the world, and throughout history people have joined together for many reasons, protesting being one of them. Protesting brings all sorts of people together, as them attempt to make society a better place overall. Historically there was a serge of politically charged protests happening in the late 60’s, and the 1970’s. This period of protesting mainly occurred on college campuses throughout the US, as students began protesting different political matters of the time. The best way for modern minds to explore this era of student unrest is to examine preserved documents from the time of the protests themselves. While keeping preservation in mind, we will be examining the protesting of the era listed above. Before the 1960’s, student protesting was not a normal occurrence on college campuses in America. It has been noted that post-WWII marked …show more content…
Johnson marked the end of the 1960’s, but only led to more protests that plagued the coming decade. Campuses across the globe continued to protest for things like civil rights, the end of the Vietnam war and especially the Kent State Shooting. Many campuses saw violence erupt against student protestors, including Portland State University. These violent times were documented by film students at PSU, as they went on to make a documentary based on police violence against student protestors. This important student film is known as The Seventh Day (1970), which depicted and documented seven days of protesting during May of 1970. Watching the film in current time is very beneficial, even to the uninformed, since it chronicles how violence erupted against students on campus. The film subtly explores the agenda of the protestors, as the audience hears and witnesses police officers beating innocent and unarmed individuals. As the days go on, we see that the city itself slowly came together, as the protestors grew from a group of young “hippie” college students, to older working class