In the spring of 1970, thousands of protesters descended on New Haven, Connecticut, to demonstrate against the trial of members of the Black Panther Party, including Ericka Huggins and co-founder Bobby Seale, for the kidnapping and murder of suspected FBI informant Alex Rackley. Led by radical luminaries including Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Tom Hayden, and Jean Genet, the demonstrators converged on the New Haven Green to vent their anger and shut Yale down. Forever endearing himself to a generation of activist students, Yale President Kingman Brewster famously noted, “I’m appalled and ashamed that things should have come to such pass in this country that I am skeptical of the ability of Black revolutionaries to achieve a fair trial anywhere in the United States.” Hoping to avoid the crises that had engulfed other universities, Brewster welcomed and fed the demonstrators in an attempt to lower the temperature on campus. Brewster commissioned a small group of Yale students to document the demonstrations, and Yale’s handling of them, which resulted in this short film. The film is credited collectively to May First Media, which included filmmakers Josh Morton and Nick Doob, and who were advised by Yale faculty member and filmmaker Michael Roemer. The events of May 1970 in New Haven were filmed for at least three other projects, including Bright College Years, made by Peter Rosen in 1970 and preserved in 2024 by the Yale Film Archive, as well as unfinished films by Paul Williams (with cinematographer John Avilsden) and Kartemquin Films.