EXHIBIT
PROTEST
CIVIL RIGHTS AND VIETNAM
In this exhibit you can learn how Virginia Tech students responded to the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War--from a dispute over whether to lower the flag after MLK's assassination to a student occupation of Williams Hall. By Jenni Gallagher and Paul Quigley.
The assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4, 1968, sent shockwaves around the country. The morning after King's death, a group of students lowered the United States and Virginia flags outside Burruss Hall. As one of the demonstrators explained, "We remained around the flagpole so that we could discuss the ideals of Dr. King's life." Around noon, an opposing group of students demanded that the flags be restored. After what the student newspaper described as "some pushing and shoving," the flags were raised again. Soon after, however, the official order came from President Johnson: all flags should be flown at half mast.
King's assassination brought to the surface racial tensions that were sweeping the nation--including a college campus in Southwest Virginia still struggling with the implications of desegregation.
Virginia Tech students demonstrate following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. An editorial mourning King's death in the student newspaper: "He had a dream." The student newspaper reported on the demonstration outside Burruss Hall. Members of the Virginia Tech community gathered around a flagpole, date unknown.
REMAKING VPI: THE HAHN YEARS STUDENT PROTESTS: OVERVIEW "OCCUPYING WILLIAMS HALL"
