The Struggle for Student Rights: Tinker v. Des Moines and the 1960s

by John W. Johnson

An account of a free speech controversy in a public school in Des Moines, Iowa, in the 1960s. Students suspended for wearing black arm bands protesting US involvement in the Vietnam War took their case to the Supreme Court. The resulting decision helped provide a legal foundation for subsequent anti-war protests. This account captures the personal struggle of the litigants and places the controversy in the legal and historical context of the 1960s. For general readers and those in law. Paper edition (unseen), $12.95. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Genres: Nonfiction, Law, Politics

240 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1997

Reviews

[Marvin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an important Iowa history book that I should have read long ago, and I'm glad I finally did. It's a workmanlike, blow-by-blow account of the influential civil liberties black armband case in which the US Supreme Court ruled that students do not shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse door. The book does two things well: (1) for those of us who are not legal experts, it clearly shows the complicated and conditional course of lawsuits that make their way to the Supreme Court and to landmark status; and (2) with its close focus on (and interviews of many of) the litigants, lawyers, and justices, it reminds us that constitutional law is not an abstract enterprise--it involves real people in real social situations.

[Cameron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dry and methodical but interesting in it's relevance to today's student movements.

[Mattie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great account of the Tinker case. Johnson brilliantly lays everything out for anyone to understand. Good case for students' rights and I always loved the Warren Court.