Mary Ann Vecchio
Encyclopedia
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
-winning photograph by photojournalism
Photojournalism
Photojournalism is a particular form of journalism that creates images in order to tell a news story. It is now usually understood to refer only to still images, but in some cases the term also refers to video used in broadcast journalism...
student John Filo
John Filo
John Paul Filo took the 1970 Pulitzer Prize winning photo of a 14-year-old runaway girl , crying while kneeling over the body of 20-year-old Jeffrey Miller, one of the victims of the Kent State shootings...
in the aftermath of the Kent State shootings
Kent State shootings
The Kent State shootings—also known as the May 4 massacre or the Kent State massacre—occurred at Kent State University in the city of Kent, Ohio, and involved the shooting of unarmed college students by members of the Ohio National Guard on Monday, May 4, 1970...
on May 4, 1970.
The photograph shows the 14-year-old Vecchio kneeling over the body of Jeffrey Miller
Jeffrey Miller
Jeffrey Glenn Miller was a student at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, when he was shot and killed by Ohio National Guardsmen in the Kent State shootings....
who had been shot by the Ohio National Guard
United States National Guard
The National Guard of the United States is a reserve military force composed of state National Guard militia members or units under federally recognized active or inactive armed force service for the United States. Militia members are citizen soldiers, meaning they work part time for the National...
moments earlier. Vecchio had joined the protest while visiting the campus, where she had befriended two of the other students who were hit by gunfire that day: Sandra Scheuer
Sandra Scheuer
Sandra Lee Scheuer was a student at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, when she was killed by Ohio National Guardsmen in the Kent State shootings....
, who was killed; and Alan Canfora
Alan Canfora
Alan Michael Canfora was a student at Kent State University, Ohio, when he was shot and wounded in the right wrist by Ohio National Guardsmen in the Kent State shootings on May 4, 1970 while protesting the invasion of Cambodia....
, who was wounded. Other photographers also captured the scene from other angles.
Vecchio was a runaway from Opa-locka, Florida
Opa-locka, Florida
Opa-locka is a city located in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. As of the mid decade census, the population was 15,376 as recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau....
where she attended Westview Junior High School. She bartered her story after the shootings to a local reporter in exchange for a bus ticket to California. She was found by police before she boarded the bus, and sent back to her family, who reportedly later sued t-shirt companies for 40% of the profits of sales featuring Filo's photograph. Following Filo's publication of the photograph through the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, also known as "the Trib," is the second largest daily newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States...
satellite paper Valley Daily News and its subsequent pickup internationally, Florida governor Claude Kirk
Claude R. Kirk, Jr.
Claude Roy Kirk, Jr. was the 36th Governor of the U.S. state of Florida . He was the first Republican Governor of Florida since Reconstruction.-Early life:...
labelled Vecchio a dissident
Dissident
A dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution. When dissidents unite for a common cause they often effect a dissident movement....
communist.
After Vecchio married Joe Gillum in 1979, the couple moved to Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
, where Vecchio became a clerk at a coffee shop. She later studied massage therapy and is employed as a respiratory therapist
Respiratory therapy
Respiratory therapy is a healthcare profession in which specialists work with patients suffering from either acute or chronic respiratory problems. These specialists are termed Respiratory Therapists in most places internationally but may also be referred to as Respiratory Scientists or...
.
In 1995, Vecchio met John Filo for the first time, when both were scheduled to appear at an Emerson College
Emerson College
Emerson College is a private coeducational university located in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a "school of oratory," Emerson is "the only comprehensive college or university in America dedicated exclusively to communication and the arts in a liberal arts...
conference commemorating the 25th anniversary of the shootings. She also appeared at Kent State University in May of the same year, for the 25th annual commemoration. She returned to Kent State University again for the 36th commemoration in May 2006, and for the 37th commemoration in May 2007. She spoke at the 39th commemoration in May 2009, where she again met John Filo, their first meeting on the Kent State University campus. Vecchio also appeared at the 40th commemoration speaking on the allusions to the present state of the country.
Vecchio has been portrayed in several stage performances about the Kent State shootings. The character Vekeero in Halim El-Dabh
Halim El-Dabh
Halim Abdul Messieh El-Dabh is an Egyptian-born American composer, performer, ethnomusicologist, and educator, who has had a career spanning six decades...
's 1971 Opera Flies is based on Vecchio. Her role was played by Kelley Lepsik in the 2000 performance of Kent State: A Requiem.
When published, the photograph was retouched to remove the distracting fencepost over Vecchio's head in the original image. The unretouched original was stored in the archives of Life
Life (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
magazine.
