During December 1965, a group of students at Warren Harding Junior High School in Des Moines School District gathered in the home of 16-year-old Christopher Eckhardt to plan a public display of their support for a truce in the Vietnam war. During this time, nearly 60,000 people had died as a result of the Vietnam war. As a group, the students decided to wear black armbands on December 16 and again on New Year's Eve. The principal of the Des Moines school learned of the plan and met with other leaders of the school on December 14 to stop this protest before it started. The school created a policy that stated that any student wearing an armband would be asked to remove it and if the students refused to remove it they would be suspended from school. This policy was enforced not only at Warren Harding Junior High School, but throughout the entire school district.
Despite the new policy created, students Mary Beth Tinker, 13 years old, and Christopher Eckhardt wore their armbands to school on December 16th. After lunch, Tinker was called to the principal’s office to receive a warning about the armband. After refusing to remove the …show more content…
The first time that the US Supreme Court ever declared that school students had First Amendment rights was in 1943 during West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette. The West Virginia State Board of Education passed a law saying that all students were required to recite the Pledge of Allegiance every day at school and to salute the flag. Many parents argued that their children were not allowed to do this due to their religion, being Jehovah’s Witnesses. The parents of these students took the case to the Supreme Court where it was decided that the students were not required to recite the Pledge of Allegiance because it stated that the United States is one nation “under God” and this violated their religious beliefs and freedom and
Despite the new policy created, students Mary Beth Tinker, 13 years old, and Christopher Eckhardt wore their armbands to school on December 16th. After lunch, Tinker was called to the principal’s office to receive a warning about the armband. After refusing to remove the …show more content…
The first time that the US Supreme Court ever declared that school students had First Amendment rights was in 1943 during West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette. The West Virginia State Board of Education passed a law saying that all students were required to recite the Pledge of Allegiance every day at school and to salute the flag. Many parents argued that their children were not allowed to do this due to their religion, being Jehovah’s Witnesses. The parents of these students took the case to the Supreme Court where it was decided that the students were not required to recite the Pledge of Allegiance because it stated that the United States is one nation “under God” and this violated their religious beliefs and freedom and