During a 2013 Associated Press interview, Mary Beth Tinker holds a 1968 photo of herself and her brother John, proudly displaying their armbands after the Supreme Court agreed to hear their free-speech case. Manuel Balce Ceneta

The following article appeared in the Portland Press Herald…

History lesson vindicates students protesting national anthem

As Justice Fortas wrote in 1969, children don’t shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse door.

By Phillip M. Hoose

I write in response to the Sept. 15 Associated Press article “High schoolers joining chorus of anthem protesters” (Page A5) that presented the difficulties that school administrators experience when students make visible social protests during the national anthem.

The author mentioned that in 1969, the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled in favor of public school students in Iowa who had worn black armbands to school to protest the Vietnam War.
about the author

Phillip Hoose of Portland is the author of We Were There, Too!: Young People in U.S. History, a finalist for the 2001 National Book Award in the Young People’s Literature category.

As more students are now making their own decisions about the anthem, and as administrators struggle to respond, I’d like to offer information about the 1969 Iowa decision, Tinker v. Des Moines, and its importance to students.  READ MORE.