About the Source

The student activism of the 1960s and the related events of 1968 is the context for “Armbands Unite.” In 1968, Tinker v. Des Moines reached the Supreme Court. In December 1965, students at Des Moines County schools took up an antiwar protest, wearing black armbands with a white peace symbol in the middle. The anti-war demonstrations inspired the protest in Washington, D.C. Upon learning about the planned protest, the school district passed a preemptive ban on wearing armbands. This ban did not stop the students, however. They instead wore black clothing to continue their protest. The Des Moines County School System suspended a dozen students for their actions. After Christmas break, the students returned to school and continued their protest by only wearing black clothing for the rest of the school year. They would eventually file a first amendment lawsuit. At the center of the suit, three students pursued a legal battle against Des Moines County Schools. These students, Mary Beth Tinker, John Tinker (her brother), and Christopher Eckhardt, wanted to know if students had the right to protest. The initial court ruling upheld the school’s suspension of the students. It cited the issue of “disruption” and “distraction” in the classroom, despite a lack of evidence to support these claims. In the first hearing, the judge ruled against the students. In the second case, the court deadlocked 3-3. However, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the students. By a 7-2 vote, the majority ruled that students could undertake student protest at public schools and that school officials could not censor student speech if it were not disrupting the educational process. In the Court’s opinion, “Students did not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” This ruling was an important landmark in establishing rights for those in minority age. It also established what is known as the “Tinker Test,” which held that a “substantial disruption” was the only reason a school might interfere with student speech or expression. Being a student did not conflict with being an activist, in the court’s view. This court case was likely the inspiration for the author of “Armbands Unite.” Groups like the SNCC, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and SDS, Students for a Democratic Society began to form on college campuses across the country. “Armbands Unite'' was distributed by CRAP(Committee for Responsible Academic Policy), and its formation was likely in response to other student committees like the ones above. That is just one example of how student activism across the country may have influenced student activists at Sonoma State.

Students established SNCC and SDS in 1960 on opposite sides of the country. However, both stayed relevant throughout the decade and served as a model for other students across the country. The influence SNCC had on the SDS shows here. SNCC would often influence SDS in the North. Key people in SNCC like Bob Zeller and Sandra Casem would travel and correspond to the North regarding what was going on in the South. These organizations show how students took inspiration from other students all over the country and how the author of “Armbands Unite” took inspiration from organizations like SNCC to form a committee and act non-violently. “Armbands Unite” refers to itself as part of “Volume I of the CRAP manifesto.” This title illustrates how the document’s author may have inspired other student movements, as SDS had created its manifesto at the beginning of the decade.

By reading the student-led newspaper from that time, The Sonoma State Steppes, we can see how students at Sonoma State engaged in activism in 1968. In November and December of 1968, the newspaper chronicles Sonoma State’s student involvement with protests happening on campus, and at San Francisco State, regarding a proposal that would take away all student autonomy across the California State University system. Students participated in many forms of protest, such as strikes and boycotts. The newspaper also reports on the creation of many committees in response to proposals demonstrating further that the formations of committees were becoming a common practice.

This document outlines how students at Sonoma State University might have responded to a First Amendment Supreme Court case concerning how much free speech a student has on their school campus. It shows that their idea of protesting or peacefully gathering centered on a lively and polite debate about stances they dictated by their fashion choices, rather than blame their school for a problem that it did not start. Some of the armbands represented a somewhat facetious view on opposing opinions and lifestyles. However, that did not mean that those students did not possess the right to be heard at their place of education. Others took a more dark and severe stance that sided with the original protest’s cause of protesting all the unnecessary deaths in the Vietnam War. Tinker versus Des Moines gained national traction with the media and was an ongoing event for four years. Students at campuses across the country gathered to express their opinion in many ways. Some people formed student committees and societies, like SNCC or the CRAP manifesto. Others staged massive protest events that occupied significant parts of campuses. Whoever the author of “Armbands Unite” is, they were inspired by the different forms of protest and public gatherings from all over the country. This document highlights what it was like to be a student in a time when your First Amendment rights are thrown into question.