John W. Yarbro and Renee Stringham correspondence
Abstract
Descriptive Summary
- Title
- John W. Yarbro and Renee Stringham correspondence
- Date
- 1970 May 20-22 (inclusive)
- Extent
- 0.1 Cubic Feet
- Subjects
- Memoirs and biographies
- Protest movements -- United States
- Student protesters -- Kentucky -- Lexington
- Arrangement
- Collection is arranged chronologically.
- Preferred Citation
- 2022ua004 : [identification of item], John W. Yarbro and Renee Stringham correspondence, 1970 May 20-22, University of Kentucky Libraries Special Collections Research Center.
- Repository
- University of Kentucky
Collection Overview
- Biography / History
- From May 5-7, 1970, some University of Kentucky students participated in protests prompted by the killing of four students at Kent State University on May 4, 1970, as well as by the United States invasion of Cambodia (a neutral country) as an extension of the war in Vietnam starting on April 26, 1970. The protests were in part organized by UK Student Government and Steve Bright, President. The students' demands of the Board of Trustees as presented by Bright at the Board meeting in the early afternoon of May 5, 1970, were to take action to ban weapons on campus; to condemn the killings at Kent State University; and to condemn the involvement of the United States in Cambodia. At that May 5th meeting, Bright was sworn in as a non-voting student representative to the Board of Trustees, replacing Timothy Futrell, previous Student Government President and previous non-voting student representative. Bright also spoke against the revision of the Student Code. While the meeting was taking place, several hundred students were either outside the conference room on the top floor of the Patterson Office Tower, or in the stairwells or the elevators trying to get up to the top floor. Local police prevented more than approximately 40 students from being on the top floor. The Board did not take action on any of the student demands and the revision of the Student Code passed unanimously. After the meeting's adjournment, Board member and former Kentucky governor Happy Chandler had a physical altercation with a student outside the meeting room. Also after the meeting, UK President Otis Singletary and interim Board chairperson Albert Clay met in a closed meeting with ten representative students. In this meeting, Singletary and Clay told the students that there was no interest on the Board in banning firearms.
- In the late afternoon and evening of May 5, 1970, a large group of students marched through campus and downtown Lexington carrying a banner reading "Four More Dead" with a peace symbol along with four coffins representing the four dead Kent State University students. In the evening, the marchers ended up in front of Barker Hall/Buell Armory, where they faced off against Lexington and Kentucky local and state police protecting the building. Some of the students threw rocks, and a few students were arrested. Suddenly, the crowd saw fire over the top of the Student Center. The former Air Force ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) Building (also called the ROTC Annex or the Euclid Avenue Building) on the corner of Euclid Avenue and Harrison Avenue (now Martin Luther King, Jr., Boulevard) was on fire and was burned to the ground. The fire also damaged the south side of the women's dormitory Blazer Hall, sited north of the ROTC Annex, and more than 100 students had to be rehoused. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined, but Lexington police arrested student Sue Anne Salmon on suspicion of setting it. Those charges were later dropped because of lack of evidence (Kentucky Kernel, 5/6/1970, 7/9/1970).
- On Wednesday day and night, May 6, 1970, and on Thursday day, May 7, 1970, students also rallied around the Student Center and marched through campus, through downtown Lexington, to Transylvania University, and to the Lexington Theological Seminary. There were local and state police and National Guard troops guarding university buildings and accompanying and opposing the marchers on both days. On Thursday, members of the National Guard used tear gas on students sitting and standing on the lawn of the Student Center.
- The immediate results of these protests were that spring commencement ceremonies were rescheduled for August 8, 1970, and several students, including Steve Bright, faced Judicial Board hearings about their conduct in relation to the Student Code. The former site of the ROTC Annex was converted to a park and recreation area.
- Renee Stringham was a medical student at the University of Kentucky, graduating in 1972. John W. Yarbro (September 15, 1931-April 13, 2020) was Associate Professor, University of Kentucky Departments of Medicine and Biochemistry and Director of the Section of Hematology and Oncology at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine and the University of Kentucky Medical Center from 1968 to 1970.
- Sources: 1. 2010ua027: Commencement programs, 1972 2. Kentucky Kernel articles referenced in text 3. Board of Trustees meeting minutes, May 5, 1970 4. Kentuckian yearbook, 1970 5. "Renee Stringham." LinkedIn. Accessed 2/9/2022. 5. John Williamson Yarbro obituary and curriculum vitae in collection donor file.
- Scope and Content
- The W. Yarbro and Renee Stringham correspondence (dated 1970 May 20-22; 0.1 cubic foot; 2 items) comprises a handwritten letter from University of Kentucky medical student Renee Stringham to University of Kentucky Medical Center oncologist John W. Yarbro, dated May 20, 1970 (2 pages), and Yarbro's typewritten reply (3 pages), dated May 22, 1970. In her letter, Stringham asks Yarbro for his recollection of the events at the University of Kentucky on Thursday, May 7, 1970, during a student protest. In her letter, Stringham asks Yarbro for his recollection of the events at the University of Kentucky on Thursday, May 7, 1970, during a student protest. Yarbro served at a first aid station on that day. Stringham tells Yarbro that she and other students from the Medical Center are writing down their own memories of the events and are asking other faculty to do so, as well. The students plan to ask a journalist to use those written recollections and other sources to create a "'diary of a protest.'"
Restrictions on Access and Use
- Conditions Governing Access
- Collection is open to researchers by appointment
- Use Restrictions
- Property rights reside with the University of Kentucky. The University of Kentucky holds the copyright for materials created in the course of business by University of Kentucky employees. Copyright for all other materials has not been assigned to the University of Kentucky. For information about permission to reproduce or publish, please contact the Special Collections Research Center.
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Table of Contents
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UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center is open Monday to Friday, 9:00am to 4:00pm. Appointments are encouraged but not required. Schedule an appointment here.
Researchers must have an SCRC Researcher Account to request materials. View account set-up and use instructions here.
Questions? Contact SCRC via our Contact Form.
Requests
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You may come across language in UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center collections and online resources that you find harmful or offensive. SCRC collects materials from different cultures and time periods to preserve and make available the historical record. These materials document the time period when they were created and the view of their creator. As a result, some may demonstrate racist and offensive views that do not reflect the values of UK Libraries.
If you find description with problematic language that you think SCRC should review, please contact us at SCRC@uky.edu.
