Mary Beth Tinker’s parents and the work of national civil rights activists were influential in her decision to wear a black armband to school in 1965 to protest the Vietnam War.

Additional resources, including the an audio recording of the U.S. Supreme Court opening arguments for the Tinker Case and the text of the Court’s case decision, are available on the Iowa PBS 50th Anniversary of the Tinker v. Des Moines Schools Decision and Students’ Right to Freedom of Speech: The Tinker Case websites.