Kingman Brewster

A student documentary crew chronicles the lead up and aftermath of New Haven's tumultuous May Day weekend of 1970.

In the spring of 1970, thousands of protesters descended on New Haven to demonstrate against the trial of Black Panther members for the murder of suspected FBI informant Alex Rackley. Led by radical luminaries Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, and Tom Hayden, the demonstrators converged on the New Haven Green to vent their anger and shut Yale down. Yale President Kingman Brewster commissioned a small group of Yale students to document the demonstrations, resulting in this 22-minute black-and-white film.