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This outdoor trail is self-guided and available any time the campus grounds are open. It includes seven exhibit panels that take visitors through the events of May 4, 1970. Along the trail that goes around The Commons and Taylor Hall, you will see campus landmarks like the Victory Bell, May 4 Memorial, Solar Totem #1 sculpture, the Pagoda, wounded student markers, and fallen student spaces. 

It takes about 30 minutes and half a mile of walking to see all 7 panels. The trail includes a few inclines. 

Panel Videos

Each of these linked videos corresponds to an outdoor exhibit panel:

Wounded Markers

These bronze markers were installed in 2021 to honor the nine students wounded on May 4, 1970. Great effort was put into verifying their proper locations before they were installed. Each marker faces the direction where the National Guard shot from and includes the distance the wounded students were from the Guard. The markers were unveiled for the 51st May 4 commemoration.

Learn more about the markers

Daffodil Hill

In 1989, 58,175 daffodil bulbs were planted as a living art installation - one flower for each U.S. service member killed in Vietnam. The installation was designed by Â鶹¾«Ñ¡Professor Emeritus Brinsley Tyrrell as a way to honor both the fallen anti-war protestors and Vietnam War soldiers. In the spring months, tens of thousands of yellow daffodil bulbs continue to bloom on this hill. 

learn more about Daffodil Hill

Victory Bell

Installed in the early 1950s by the Â鶹¾«Ñ¡Alpha Phi Omega chapter, the victory bell has been used to celebrate athletic and academic achievements alike. Its original intent was for sports teams to ring the bell after a game, but in 2016 the tradition of ringing the bell during commencement was started. The victory bell's location on the Commons was intentional, as it was the center of campus when it was installed. In the 1960s and 1970s it was used as a meeting place for student activist groups and protestors. It is an identifiable landmark in many photos taken on May 4, 1970. 

Solar Totem #1

The 15-foot metal sculpture was created by artist Don Drumm in 1967. Â鶹¾«Ñ¡asked Drumm to create a sculpture to bring character to the exterior of Taylor Hall- the newly built journalism and architecture building. During the May 4, 1970 shooting, the sculpture, made of half-inch thick steel plates, was shot by a National Guardsman's M1 rifle. Students and visitors can still see a bullet hole through the metal to this day. It serves as one of the first memorials to the tragedy on campus. Each spring, it is often decorated by students with flowers and chalk to memorialize May 4.

Learn more about Solar Totem #1