Tinker Turns 50 Celebration

This year, the landmark Tinker v. Des Moines decision turns fifty and civil rights trailblazers Mary Beth and John Tinker will be returning to Iowa to celebrate!

 

With the help of the ACLU of Iowa, 13-year-old Mary Beth Tinker, 15-year-old John Tinker, and 15- year-old Christopher Eckhardt secured the rights of students across the country after they were suspended from school for wearing black armbands to protest the Vietnam War.

 

On February 24, 1969, the Court ruled 7-2 in favor of the students in the landmark Tinker v. Des Moines case, stating that the First Amendment applied to public school students and that students don’t "shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate."

 

The Tinkers will arrive in Des Moines on Sunday, February 17, and will speak in a number of public schools and college classes over the following ten days.

 

Here are some highlights: