Tinker, Tinker, and Eckhardt - Not a children's company but the First Amendment Pioneers

Not many people can say they made history at the mere age of 13, but Mary Beth Tinker can. After Tinker stood up for what she believed in and protested the Vietnam war, she, her brother, and their friend made history with the argument that allowed all students the right to express their first amendment, something she didn’t fully understand until years later.

Tinker was 13 at the time of the protest. Joining her was her brother, John Tinker, 15, and their friend, Christopher Eckhardt, 16. With concerns of the numerous deaths and casualties that the Vietnam War was imposing on not only the United States soldiers but others as well, they decided it was time to speak up for the problem.

Tinker was first emersed in peaceful protesting during the 1963 Bombing of the Birmingham Church. Tinker and her sister Bonnie joined a group of girls in Des Moines as they marched the streets and wore armbands in response to the bombing that killed four young girls after the Ku Klux Klan placed bombs inside the church.

From that moment on, she knew that she had the right to speak up about concerning issues, whether she was young or not. “Youth should have a say about your lives. When one of you is cheated, everyone is cheated,” said Tinker as she spoke in our class.

Famously known, both Mary Beth and John Tinker along with Chris Eckhardt wore black armbands to school the next day. The idea was found by John Tinker as he went to a protest in Washington D.C. with his parents and that was the way protesters showed their support.

“I felt that we were right that we should have the right to wear the armband because people wore political buttons, they wore crosses and crucifix and other symbols of what they thought. It didn't seem right to me. I determined then that I would wear the armband” (Parent Reaction, 00:35-1:00), John noted in a video from PBS.

A simple black armband wasn’t anything compared to what had happened to people of color and how oppressed they were during these times. Mary Beth recalls in an interview, “someone threatened to blow up our house on Christmas Eve…they threw red paint at our house and called us communists, and my mother would always say, ‘we’re not communists, we’re Methodists’” (Receiving Threats, 1:11-1:22)!

Little did the trio know that what they were doing was helping every young student in public schools across America. They decided to push for a First Amendment Case when they decided to sue the Des Moines School District. Their lawyer had advised them to go back to school without causing any other troubles for the fear of them getting expelled after Mary Beth had already been suspended. At this time, it was a bigger issue for children to be expelled; it wasn’t nearly as easy for families to get up and move for their child to go to another school let alone a child with an impending supreme court case.

“When Mary Beth and I went back to school we wore black clothes, and everybody knew what the black clothes meant. I wore those clothes for the whole rest of the school year and everybody at North High knew what the black clothes meant” (Sue Des Moines School, 1:41-2:00). John remembers wearing black clothes as a form of protest but one that could not be punished by the school as it rode the fine line of the school’s rules at the time.

While all of these monumental moments are being carved into history without anyone’s knowledge, Mary Beth remembers being an average teenage girl. She says she attended sleepovers and would be found at the roller rink with her best friends. She was still embracing her teenage years so much so that she didn’t remember that much about the supreme court ruling, “I went to the supreme court, but I don’t remember much from the experience…I was so nervous because we had just moved to St. Louis and I didn’t know anyone.”

If reading about this case hasn’t sparked one to go and change something, they don’t agree with in the world then who knows what will. Mary Beth Tinker risked a lot at the age of 13, and she did it with a little hesitation because she was adamant about creating a change. Like all history is written, it’s difficult to notice the LARGE-SCALE effects until it’s laid out in front of someone in an unexpected way; “I remember reading about my case in my nursing textbook.” Even Mary Beth Tinker didn’t know the effects until later in her life.

Mary Beth Tinker was a junior in high school when the case was closed in favor of Tinker and Eckhardt. John Tinker was going to college and living in his dorm room at the time of the victorious phone call, “I wasn't ecstatic. I was happy, but the war was still going on. I didn't feel like we had that final sense of victory that we wanted.” (Success, 1:21-1:48)

It’s important to understand how much this war had affected people who weren’t fighting in it themselves. Even after Mary Beth and John had won a supreme court case. They wanted to produce more change especially knowing that they weren’t able to stop the war completely.

“We were protesting the war, and our victory was a First Amendment Victory,” said John in another interview with PBS (Success, 00:25-00:30). This goes to show that at the young ages they were, change was something that needed to happen, and action needed to be taken.

It also goes to show that multiple scenarios can rise from one situation. In this case, particularly, John and Mary Beth were unaware of how significant the First Amendment would be. Soon enough, they paved the way for young generations to have free speech, and Mary Beth is still advocating for her first amendment rights and everyone else's too.

Tinker preached to our class the importance of your voice and a ringing thought," for life to improve, the voice of young people must be heard and realized."

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Sources:

John tinker RECALLS Parent reaction to planned Vietnam war protest [Video file]. (2021, February 24). Retrieved March 09, 2021, from https://iowa.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/a87e5e25-dff5-4cb0-a0f2-eb2f07094832/john-tinker-recalls-parent-reaction-to-planned-vietnam-war-protest/

John tinker recalls the decision to sue the Des Moines school district [Video file]. (2021, February 24). Retrieved March 09, 2021, from https://iowa.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/2b0123c6-30f5-463a-b491-afd969ef9439/john-tinker-recalls-the-decision-to-sue-the-des-moines-school-district/

Mary Beth and John Tinker react to Supreme court success [Video file]. (2021, February 24). Retrieved March 09, 2021, from https://iowa.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/a39e9118-a194-4a32-b9cf-7d78221fba82/mary-beth-and-john-tinker-react-to-supreme-court-success/

Mary Beth and John Tinker recall receiving threats After Vietnam war protest [Video file]. (2021, February 24). Retrieved March 09, 2021, from https://iowa.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/8ecfb398-67d1-4e47-8962-09ee12132c49/mary-beth-and-john-tinker-recall-receiving-threats-after-vietnam-war-protest/