Warren Harding Junior High School (Harding Middle School today) saw a student protest against the Vietnam War lead to a landmark Supreme Court case in 1965. In response to the escalation of the war, and in support Senator Robert Kennedy's proposed Christmas Truce, a group of Des Moines students wore black arm bands to school. The administration decided that the students would either have to remove these armbands or face suspension. Mary Beth Tinker, Christopher Eckhardt, and John Tinker believed that the administration's new policy was tantamount to censorship. After they wore the armbands at school once again, each of the students were suspended. With the support of their parents and the ACLU, the students protested the school board's actions in a case that was eventually heard by the Supreme Court.
This protest was planned on December 11, 1965 with a group
of students at the home of a student named Christopher Eckhardt. These
two-dozen students wore black armbands to school on December 16 and 17 and were
threatened with suspension if they did not remove these armbands. A district
school board meeting which discussed the issue was held on December 21. Two
hundred people were in attendance at this meeting. It was decided at this
meeting that the decision regarding suspension would be postponed. The students
continued wearing the armbands up until January 1, 1966. On January 3, the
school board voted to maintain the principals’ punishment.
In March of that year, the Iowa Civil Liberties Union filed
a complaint to the US District Court of the Southern District of Iowa on behalf
of Christopher Eckhardt and the Tinkers. This complaint claimed that by
suspending the students the Des Moines Public Schools had violated their rights
under the First Amendment, which protects the right to free expression. The
district court dismissed the complaint on the grounds that this suspension was
within the school board’s power, as the students’ act of protest was claimed to
disturb learning in the schools. The justices at the US Court of Appeals for
the 8th Circuit were split, which means that the District Court’s
ruling was upheld.
The case went to the Supreme Court in November of 1968,
where it was decided in February of 1969 that the Des Moines School District
had, in fact, violated the right granted the students under the First
Amendment. Today, Mary Beth Tinker is a youth rights activist. In the fall of
2013, Tinker completed a speaking tour with student rights attorney Mike
Hiestand. During this tour, they traveled in the United States, across the east
coast, Midwest, and southeast speaking at colleges, churches, one youth
detention facility, courts, and national conventions.
http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/comm/free_speech/tinker.html
http://americanhistory.about.com/od/supremecourtcases/p/tinker-v-des-moines.htm
www.kempajournalism.org
http://bdspotlight.com/news/2014/03/06/shuler-wins-journalism-scholarship/
http://www.glogster.com/tinkervsdesmoines/tinker-vs-des-moines/g-6m1dm86s7eda1psanvvk7a0
