Allison Krause
Allison Krause, c. 1970
Born	Allison Beth Krause (1951-04-23)April 23, 1951 Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
Died	May 4, 1970(1970-05-04) (aged 19) Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, U.S. 41°09′00″N 81°20′36″W / 41.1501°N 81.3433°W / 41.1501; -81.3433
Cause of death	Gunshot wounds to left arm and chest [1]
Resting place	Parkway Jewish Center Cemetery, Wilkins Township, Pennsylvania, U.S. 40°25′20″N 79°49′31″W / 40.42230°N 79.82540°W / 40.42230; -79.82540 (approximate)
Nationality	American
Occupation	Student
Known for	Anti-war activism Victim of Kent State shootings
Parents	Arthur Selwyn Krause (father) Doris Lillian ( née Levine) Krause (mother)

Allison Beth Krause ( /kraʊs/ ; April 23, 1951 – May 4, 1970) was a student at Kent State University and one of four unarmed students shot and killed by soldiers of the Ohio Army National Guard in the May 4, 1970 Kent State shootings in Kent, Ohio. The shootings occurred as students protested against both the invasion of Cambodia and the National Guard presence on campus. ^[2]

Krause—an ardent anti-war activist—was shot in the left side of her chest from a distance of approximately 330 feet (101 m). ^[3] A subsequent autopsy found that a single bullet entered and exited her upper left arm before entering her left lateral chest, fragmenting on impact and causing extensive internal injuries. She died from her wounds before reaching hospital. ^[4]

Background

Krause was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the daughter of Doris Lillian (Levine) and Arthur Selwyn Krause. ^[5] She had a younger sister, Laurel (b. 1954). Krause was Jewish. ^[6] She was an alumna of John F. Kennedy High School in Silver Spring, Maryland. ^[7] Her parents moved to Churchill, Pennsylvania, the summer before she began attending Kent State. ^{[8] [9]}

The day prior to her death, Krause—an ardent activist against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and the war in general—is known to have observed a single lilac within the barrel of the gun of a guardsman upon the campus of Kent State University; ^[10] upon hearing an officer order the guardsman to remove the flower, she caught the flower as it fell to the ground, ^[11] stating, "Flowers are better than bullets." ^[12]

May 4, 1970

Altogether, the Guardsmen fired 67 shots in 13 seconds. ^[13] The other students killed in the shootings were Jeffrey Glenn Miller, Sandra Lee Scheuer and William Knox Schroeder. In addition, nine other students were wounded in the gunfire including one who was paralyzed for life. ^[14]

The shootings led to protests and a national student strike, causing hundreds of campuses to close because of both violent and non-violent demonstrations. The Kent State campus remained closed for six weeks. Five days after the shootings, 100,000 people demonstrated in Washington, D.C. against the war. Krause's father became an outspoken advocate of the press for truth and justice about what occurred that day and fought it in the courts for nearly 10 years following the death of his daughter. In the end, the family of Allison Krause received a 'Statement of Regret' and $15,000 from the state of Ohio for the loss of Allison. ^[15]

Aftermath

Allison Krause was laid to rest within the Parkway Jewish Center Cemetery in Wilkins Township, Pennsylvania. Her rose granite headstone is inscribed with her name in both English and Hebrew in addition to two inscriptions: "Beloved daughter and sister" and "Flowers are better than bullets"—the words she had exchanged with an officer of the Ohio Army National Guard the day prior to her murder. ^[11]

In 2010, Krause's younger sister Laurel co-founded the Kent State Truth Tribunal (KSTT) with Emily Kunstler. The tribunal was organized to uncover, record and preserve the testimonies of witnesses, participants and meaningfully involved individuals of the Kent State shootings of 1970. Showing his support, Michael Moore livecast every KSTT testimonial at his website. In all, three tribunals were held in 2010: May 1, 2, 3 and 4 in Kent, Ohio at the 40th anniversary of the shootings; with a west coast tribunal in San Francisco in August and an east coast tribunal in New York City in October 2010.

See also

References

Notes

Works cited

Cited works and further reading

• Cawthorne, Nigel; Tibballs, Geoff (1993). Killers: Contract Killers, Spree Killers, Sex Killers. The Ruthless Exponents of Murder. London: Boxtree Publishing. ISBN  0-7522-0850-0.
• Eszterhas, Joe; Roberts, Michael D. (1970). Thirteen Seconds; Confrontation at Kent State. New York City: Dodd, Mead Publishing. ISBN  978-0-396-06272-1.
• Giles, Robert (2020). When Truth Mattered: The Kent State Shootings 50 Years Later. Michigan: Mission Point Press. ISBN  978-1-950-65939-5.
• Gordon, William (1995). Four Dead in Ohio: Was There a Conspiracy at Kent State?. Northridge: North Ridge Books. ISBN  978-0-937-81305-8.
• McCoy, David B. (2017). The Kent State Shootings and What Came Before. Amazon Digital Services LLC. ISBN  978-1-973-29760-4.
• Means, Howard B. (2016). 67 Shots : Kent State and The End of American Innocence. Boston: Da Capo Press. ISBN  978-0-306-82379-4.
• Rosinsky, Natalie M. (2009). The Kent State Shootings. Worcestershire: Compass Point Books. ISBN  978-0-756-53845-3.
• Simpson, Craig; Wilson, Gregory (2016). Above the Shots: An Oral History of the Kent State Shootings. Akron: Kent State University Press. ISBN  978-1-606-35291-5.
• Whitney, R. W. (1975). The Kent State Massacre. United States: SamHar Press. ISBN  978-0-871-57221-9.

External links

• Contemporary news article pertaining to the Kent State shootings
• Are Flowers Better Than Bullets?: A 2017 Valley News article detailing Allison Krause's legacy
• May 4 Visitors Center webpage pertaining to the Kent State shootings
• Allison: The Activist at kent.edu
• Archived FBI files relating to the Kent State shootings
• May4Archive.org – maintained by author J. Gregory Payne, Ph.D
• May 4, 1970: A Day that Changed America: A webpage devoted to the May 4, 1970 shootings
• Four Dead in Ohio: A BBC audio documentary pertaining to the Kent State shootings