In the 1960’s the United States population was engrossed in war abroad as well as a fight for civil rights at home. As american citizens began more disillusioned with the war in Vietnam protest marches and protest movements broke out throughout the nation. In the capital city of Iowa a group of students planned to wear black armbands in a symbol of protest against the Vietnam war. The principal of the school heard about the students plan and forbade them from wearing the armbands. Four students were suspended after refusing to take off the armbands. The cause was taken up by the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) and Mary Beth Tinker; one of the group’s ringleaders, fronted the court case. After four long years the supreme court ruled in favor of Tinker saying that students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of free speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate”. (Justice Abe Fortas)
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