USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Tinker v. Des Moines is a historic Supreme Court ruling from 1969 that cemented students’ rights to free speech in public schools. Mary Beth Tinker was a 13-year-old junior high school student in December 1965 when she and a group of students decided to wear black armbands to school to protest the war in Vietnam.

Detailed explanation-2: -In Tinker, a group of high school students wore black armbands to school to protest the Vietnam War. The students were disciplined by the school for wearing the armbands, and the students filed a lawsuit arguing that their armbands were a form of symbolic protest protected by the First Amendment.

Detailed explanation-3: -In 1965, a public school district in Iowa suspended three teenagers for wearing black armbands to school to protest the Vietnam War. Their families filed suit, and in 1969 the case reached the Supreme Court. The Court ruled that the school district had violated the students’ free speech rights.

Detailed explanation-4: -7–2 decision for Tinker The Supreme Court held that the armbands represented pure speech that is entirely separate from the actions or conduct of those participating in it. The Court also held that the students did not lose their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech when they stepped onto school property.

Detailed explanation-5: -A few students wore black armbands to school to support a truce (period of peace) in the Vietnam War (1965-73). Black armbands are a symbol of sadness that are sometimes worn to protest some action. School officials banned (prohibited) the wearing of black armbands and suspended the students from school.