Black Armbands Research Paper

On December 16th, 1965, in Des Moines, Iowa, Mary Beth Tinker and Christopher Eckhardt wore black armbands to the local high school and middle school to protest US involvement in the Vietnam War. On the following day, John Frederick Tinker wore a black armband to school for the same reason (Lusted. 15). Mary was thirteen and in middle school while christopher and john were in high school (Brannen). On both days the students wearing armbands who refused to remove them, were suspended until they returned without the armbands (Brannen). This case is called Tinker vs. Des Moines because while Christopher Eckhardt was involved there were two tinkers and only one eckhardt, tinker was also easier to pronounce (Johnson. 9). In the years after the trial
11). By the start of the protest over 2,000 American soldiers had been brought home in caskets (Collins. 270) They planned to wear black armbands from December 16th to New Year's Eve, and fast or refuse to eat on the 16th and New Year's Eve (Brannen). In total, five of the twelve students who wore armbands were suspended because they refused to remove them, as they were against a new school rule created by the board the day before the protest (Collins. 272). The school board learned about the protest through a school newspaper article that they barred from being published in hopes no one would hear of it (Collins. 271). The new rule stated that all students wearing armbands would be asked to remove them and any students who did not comply were to be suspended until they returned without the armband (Brannen). Mary, John, and Christopher were the only students to sue the school board (Rapport. 7). During the lawsuit against the school district Mary, John, and Christopher asked ICLU (Iowa Civil Liberties Union) to represent them in court (Rapport. 18). The first trial in the Des Moines Federal District Court was on July 25, 1966 (Rapport. 31). John Tinker was the first witness of the trial (Rapport. 36). When the district court dismissed the lawsuit, the federal court affirmed the district court's ruling, and only then did the tinkers and eckhardts appeal the case to the supreme court (Brannen). Finally the supreme court ruled in the student's favor with seven justices for the students and two against on February 24, 1969 (Brannen). The time it took to get the final decision from the Supreme Court was over three years, for a case that would have a lasting affect on constitutional law