Met Media (MSU Denver): Sometimes a moment defines an era. An image of that slice of time can be so iconic, so emblematic of a movement or a societal passion, that it changes everyone who sees it. And sometimes it even changes history.

The photo accompanying this column was taken moments after the Ohio National Guard opened fire on peaceful demonstrators at Kent State University on May 4, 1970. Four students were killed and nine were wounded, and a nation that was growing increasingly uncomfortable with its leaders’ lust for war in Vietnam and Cambodia saw its youth galvanized after the May 4 Massacre.

It was the first time in U.S. history that a student was killed in an anti-war demonstration, and the photo which brought home that terrible reality helped touch off a tidal wave of protest and outrage that ultimately turned public opinion against the Vietnam War.

Visit Met Media for more.