Benjamin F. Shambaugh Award, Honorable Mention
The tension between free speech and social stability has been a central concern throughout American history. In the 1960s that concern reached a fever pitch with the anti-Vietnam War movement. When anti-war sentiment "invaded" American schools, official resolve to retain order in the classroom vied with the rights of students to speak freely. A key event in that face-off was the Supreme Court decision in Tinker v. Des Moines.
In 1965, five public school students in Des Moines-including John Tinker, a Methodist minister's son--protested the Vietnam War by wearing black armbands in defiance of school policy. Suspended on disciplinary grounds that were upheld in federal court, the students took their case to the Supreme Court, arguing that they had been denied their right of freedom of expression under the First Amendment. Ruling in their favor, the Court determined that armbands did not constitute a sufficient reason to abridge free speech--a decision which helped provide a legal foundation for subsequent anti-war protests.
John Johnson now offers a detailed account of Tinker that captures the personal struggle of the litigants and places this seminal constitutional controversy in the legal and historical context of the 1960s. In this highly readable book, he shows that the case is important for its divergent perspectives on the limits of free speech and explains how the majority and dissenting Court opinions mirrored contemporary attitudes toward the permissible limits of public protest.
As the most important student rights case ever to reach the Supreme Court, Tinker raises important issues regarding First Amendment freedoms and is a strong precedent for both the rights of public school students and legitimate civil disobedience. The Struggle for Student Rights contains previously unpublished information and insights on this well-known case and provides a fascinating legal window on a turbulent era. With federal and state courts now considering the limits of speech and symbolic expressions in our schools, it makes a significant contribution to understanding the principles that are at stake.
Troublemakers traces the history of black and Chicano student protests from small-town Mississippi to metropolitan Denver and beyond, showcasing the stories of individual protesters and demonstrating how their actions contributed to the ...
The essays examine foundational debates, critiquing the reform of human rights institutions and reflecting on the place of human rights in society.
In Rights Gone Wrong, Richard Thompson Ford, author of the New York Times Notable Book The Race Card, argues that this is seldom the case.
In To Fulfill These Rights, Amaka Okechukwu offers a historically informed sociological account of the struggles over affirmative action and open admissions in higher education.
Told in the voice of Janine Leffler, one of the millions of kids who went to school because of these laws, this book shares the true story of this landmark case.
Specifically I want to thank the following : Edward R. Zane , Otis Hairston , Kay Troxler , the board of the Greensboro YWCA ... At an early point in the writing , William E. Leuchtenburg and James Patterson challenged me to sharpen my ...
In this book the author, an educational sociologist, discusses the practice and politics of school choice objectively and comprehensively.
Student Activism in the Academy: Its Struggles and Promise is a wide-ranging, provocative survey of student activism in America’s colleges and universities that critically analyzes the contentious problems and progress of a movement that ...
The Rights of Students: The Basic ACLU Guide to a Student's Rights
A collection of essays, prose, and poetry relating to the past and ongoing civil rights struggle in New Orleans, authored by students from three majority-black public high schools in New Orleans under the auspices of the Students at the ...