Observing the students of Jackson State University (JSU) take peaceful steps along the red brick path of the Gibbs-Green Memorial Plaza, which runs through the campus, is like watching the dream of the former Jackson College students come true over and over again with each step. Before the institution became a university in 1974, it was an open drive-thru college for students in the early 1970s and before. For them, moving around the campus was chaotic and dangerous.

A Road That Divided a Campus

At the time, Lynch Street was a four‑lane cut‑through connecting West Jackson to downtown, and it ran straight through the historically Black college's campus. White drivers would speed through, shouting obscenities and throwing objects at students from their cars. Some white motorists had even been known to accelerate towards the students as they tried to cross the street. One student never made it to the other side.

Students began campus protests demanding changes, including the big ask of closing Lynch Street to outside traffic. It wasn't safe, and it left them vulnerable to the violence and discrimination of any hate-filled white driver who passed by. According to JSU's "The Gibbs-Green Tragedy" page, all of this was happening in the wake of the Black Power Movement, and it was less of a nonviolent one.

The Night of May 14, 1970

Tempers were rising, to say the least, and in the midst of the turmoil, on the night of May 14, 1970, a large dump truck parked in the middle of Lynch Street was set on fire. Around midnight, the Jackson city police and highway patrolmen arrived on campus in full riot gear, and a combat truck — the Thompson Tank — a fully armored personnel carrier purchased by the then-segregationist Mayor Allen Thompson. Claiming that a sniper fired at them from the fourth floor of the girls' Alexander Hall dormitory, law enforcement opened fire. In less than a minute, they released about 400 rounds of bullets and buckshot.

Two Lives Lost, a Community Shattered

The claim was later debunked, but it didn't matter. Innocent bystanders Phillip Gibbs and James Green had lost their lives, 12 others were shot, dozens of others were injured, and countless others were traumatized. Gibbs was married with two children. He was a junior at Jackson College, pursuing a degree in Political Science. Green didn't get the chance to attend college. He was a senior at Jim Hill, a nearby high school. He just happened to be across the street, on his walk home from work.

From Asphalt to Sacred Ground

In the years that followed, Lynch Street was finally closed off through campus. Jackson State reshaped the road into a plaza — brick where there was once asphalt, pedestrians where there were once speeding cars. Classmates of Gibbs and other alumni sponsored a memorial to the "Martyrs of May 14, 1970," and each May, the university gathers here to remember, to grieve, and to teach.

Walking the Plaza Today

Walking Lynch Street today is a way to remember its history and to continue living out the dream of its former students. Start at Gibbs–Green Memorial Plaza near Alexander Hall, read the names etched in stone, and follow the trail toward the Margaret Walker Center and the COFO Civil Rights Education Center, where exhibits and archives place the tragedy within the larger story of Black life and resistance in Jackson.