“These budding journalists remind us of the media’s unwavering commitment to bearing witness even in the most wrenching of circumstances.”
Tinker v. Des Moines (1969)
Tinker v. Des Moines is an historic Supreme Court ruling from 1969 that cemented students’ rights to free speech in public schools.
Mary Beth Tinker was a 13-year-old junior high school student in December 1965 when she and a group of students decided to wear black armbands to school to protest the war in Vietnam. The students and their families embarked on a four-year court battle that culminated in the landmark Supreme Court decision.
On Feb. 24, 1969, the court ruled 7-2 that students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”
Learn more about
Tinker v. Des Moines
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Read Eagle Eye News special coverage of Tinker v. Des Moines 50th Anniversary
New Voices Legislation
New Voices is a student-powered nonpartisan grassroots movement of state-based activists who seek to protect student press freedom with state laws. These laws counteract the impact of the 1988 Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier Supreme Court decision, which dramatically changed the balance of student press rights.
Learn more about
New Voices in your state
Hear more voices from the Parkland student journalists
in the books We Say #NeverAgain and Parkland Speaks
by Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School journalism teachers
Melissa Falkowski, Eric Garner, and Sarah Lerner
Special Thanks
