Demonstrators for ‘Peace and Justice’ stage a mock battle in front of Hartford ‘s Federal Building to protest both the trial of Black militant Angela Davis and the Vietnam War. August 8, 1971. Photo: Ronnie Dundin. Hartford Times Collection, Hartford Public Library
A photo essay coordinated by Nancy Albert, Mark Jones, Janice Matthews, and the Connecticut Explored editorial staff
(c) Connecticut Explored Inc. FALL 2003
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On the home front reaction to war has ranged from wholesale support to highly contested. The Vietnam War divided the nation and drew citizens into the streets in protest. As the war dragged on and casualties mounted, public opposition to it intensified. Massive antiwar rallies took place not only in New York and Washington D.C. , but on college campuses and in cities and towns across the nation. Hartford was no exception, as these photographs published in the Hartford Times during the 1960s and 1970s illustrate. City and state residents turned out by the thousands to passionately proclaim their opposition to what many felt was an unjust and futile war.
All photos from the Hartford Times Collection, Hartford Public Library.
top: Antiwar protests spill onto the highway. 1972. Photo: Ellery G. Kington. bottom: Anti-Vietnam War protest, Bushnell Park, October 1969. Hartford History Center, Hartford Public Library
right; Opposition to the war was not confined to the young. People of all ages and walks of life joined the protest movement. Florence Carpenter and Margaret Morrison stand in front of the Old State House to mark the sixth anniversary of Hartford’s Vigil of Conscience. November 1972. Photo: Ellery G. Kington; right: Anti-War Rally, Bushnell Park, October 1969. Hartford History Center, Hartford Public Library
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