appropriately as a "tribune" of social justice was also a great "tribune" of free speech right up to mary beth tinker and i could tell you that after mary beth came to my class, i mean, i did see a difference in the way that the students related to this question. because, you know, i do think history can inspire as well as inform and when you read about figures like mary beth tinker or margaret sanger and what they risked by raising their voices, i think it can inspire you to raise yours. >> okay. well, that's -- i'm getting some questions from the audience and believing in audience free speech i would like to turn to the first one i see of those. is there a place where the right to free speech is rightfully curtailed, like when it inn sites violence. >> no right a absolute, you can't call the white house and say you're going to murder the president or to take a more obvious example from higher ed, i couldn't say to a student i like the sweater you're wearing and if you wear it again on tuesday i will give you an a, right? is that a limit on my speech? of course it is and by the way, one that i'm ver

this was very much crystallized for me during this kind of seminal meeting that i had with mary beth tinker. mary beth being the 13 year old girl who wore the black armband to school in des moines, iowa, in 1965, which sent home and later sued with the others and that became the tinker versus des moines case, upholding free speech rights. mary beth came to my class in pennsylvania and she told her story with the armband. the student started asking questions. the first question was, look, you are fighting the good fight. you are fighting the war in vietnam. these people today that view hates, racist and sexist hate, these homophobes and trans foes, they just want to hurt people. why should they be allowed to speak? and mary beth thinker had a very pointed response, i will never forget. and they said, at my school, in des moines, there were students who had dads who were risking their lives in southeast asia. you don't think that they were hurt by armbands telling them that their dads were dying for ally? speech hurts. that's why we need to protect it. because it hurts, there will always be a

mary beth and john. for those watching outside this venue, share your questions on twitter with the #tinkerversary, or go online to ipt.org/tinker. please join me in welcoming john and mary beth tinker. [ applause ] >> thank you, thank you, thank you. thank you, everybody. thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you so much, kay, and thank you to the state historical society of iowa and iowa public television and c-span, and to all of you in the audience, and to all of you following along throughout in the u.s. online, we're so happy to be with all of you here today. right, john? >> it's a great honor and a privilege to be with so many people who are celebrating the first amendment rights, especially of those who are students in schools. this is a very powerful moment and for me personally to be participating in this. thank you for inviting me. and i also wanted to mention the national history day. >> yes. >> which has done so much to promote student awareness and student activism. >> yes. and we're going to have a chance to meet some of the national history day students in a little bit. we're going to meet

historical society of iowa marked the decision with a commemorative event featuring remarks by mary beth tinkerhis event was held in 2019. ♪♪ >> welcome to a special presentation celebrating the 50th anniversary of an important milestone in u.s. history and for first a

the tinker decision remains a frequently cited court precedent. since that time, mary beth john have been advocates for student free speech. we're fortunate to have them here today to share teir story. after their presentation, we'll take questions. for those watching outside this venue, share your questions on twitter with the hashtag tinker versery. join me in welcoming john and mary beth tinker. [ applause ] >> thank you. thank you, everybody. thank you. thank you. thank you so much, kay. thank you to the state historical society of iowa and iowa public television and c-span and to all of you in the audience and all of you following along online. we're so happy to be with all of you here today, right, john? >> it's a great honor and privilege to be with so many people who are celebrating the first amendment rights, especially those of students in the schools. this is a very powerful moment and for me personally to be participating in this. thank you for inviting me. i also want to mention the national history day, which has done so much to promote student awareness and s

mary beth and john. for those watching outside this venue, share your questions on twitter with the hashtag tinker. or go online to -- please join me in welcoming john and mary beth tinker. >> thank, you thank you, thank you everybody! thank you, thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you so much kate and thank you to the state historical society of iowa and iowa public television, and c-span. to all of you not, against all of you following along out there in the u.s., online! we are so happy to be with all of you here today, right john? >> it is a great honor and privilege to be with so many people who are celebrating the first amendment rights. especially, those of us students in schools. this is a very powerful, very powerful moment. for me personally, it is big for me to be participating in this. thank you for inviting me and i also want to mention the national history day, which is doing so much to promote student awareness and activism. >> yes, we are going to have a chance to meet some of the national history day students at a little bit. we are going to meet students who are taking our count

the right to say what's on your mind what i find extraordinary is the number of young people mary beth tinker being a classic example, but who come to aclu and other organizations and and stand up first of all stand up for their rights when they that means they have to defy teachers and principles and i remember one case the aclu one recently for a student who refused to salute the american flag. she was an african-american student in connecticut, and she said i don't want to because i don't believe that we have liberty and justice for all we have too much racism in this country, and she was actually punished which is not only violative of the first amendment that i also of very old supreme court decision enforcing it and we had to go to court ultimately, of course we want and i will never forget the judge lectured the school. he said you're supposed to be teaching her about civics not the other way around. so i one of the messages to the young people who i hope are all going to read your book is that they are never too young to about their rights to stand up for them. they can accomplish a l