WASHINGTON — Mary Beth Tinker was just 13 when she spoke out against the Vietnam War by wearing a black armband to her Iowa school in 1965. When the school suspended her, she took her free speech case all the way to the US Supreme Court and won. Now 61, she has quit her part-time job as a nurse and will travel the country telling her story.
Tinker will visit her first school on Monday in Philadelphia. After that, she is scheduled to travel by recreational vehicle to 18 states and the District of Columbia as part of what’s being called the ‘‘Tinker Tour.’’
She will log 10,000 to 15,000 miles, the equivalent of driving across the country three to five times, before her tour ends Nov. 25 in suburban Kansas City. Along the way, she will stop at more than three dozen locations, most of them schools, and she plans a tour of schools in Western states in the spring. Her message: Students should take action on issues important to them.
‘‘It’s better for our whole society when kids have a voice,’’ Tinker said in a recent interview at her home in Washington.
The fall leg of Tinker’s tour is expected to cost about $50,000, and it is backed by a number of First Amendment and journalism groups, including Washington’s Newseum, which donated $3,500 for black armbands that Tinker will sign and give out.