Hot Topic: First Amendment Free Speech

This guide explores and provides a starting point for your research on The First Amendment Right of Free Speech. This guide highlights free speech on college campuses, hate speech and athlete activism.

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Supreme Court Cases

"To believe the patriotism will not flourish if patriotic ceremonies are voluntary and spontaneous instead of a compulsory routine is to make an unflattering estimate of the appeal of our institutions to free minds"

In this 1943 case of West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a school would violate the free speech rights of its student, a Jehovah's Witness, if the school forced him to say the Pledge of Allegiance.

Suggested Books

It Was Always a Choice traces the history and impact of these decisive moments throughout the history of U.S. sports.

John Carlos and Tommie Smith's Black Power salute on the 1968 Olympic podium sparked controversy and career fallout. Yet their show of defiance remains one of the most iconic images of Olympic history and the Black Power movement. Here is the remarkable story of one of the men behind the salute, lifelong activist John Carlos.

This volume provides a concise but authoritative overview of the NFL national anthem protests and the fierce debates they have sparked about patriotism, constitutional rights, military service, police brutality, and social justice. * Features entries devoted to specific events and milestones * Profiles highlight the contributions of important activists and other figures * Explores the lasting impact of the Kaepernick's protest on American life * Provides a bibliography of sources for further study

Why We Kneel, How We Rise, Holding delivers a powerful and inspiring message of hope for the future and a vision for change, while providing the background and history to an issue that has dogged the world for many centuries.

Suggested Film

Not Just a Game, the powerful new documentary based on Zirins bestselling book The Peoples History of Sports, argues that far from providing merely escapist entertainment, American sports have long been at the center of some of the major cultural struggles of our time. In a fascinating tour of the good, the bad, and the ugly of American sports culture, Zirin first traces how American sports have glamorized racism, sexism, homophobia, and militarism, then excavates a largely forgotten history of rebel athletes who stood up to power and fought for social justice beyond the field of play. The result is as deeply moving as it is exhilarating: nothing less than an alternative history of political struggle in the United States as seen through the games its people have played

Athlete activism and Freedom of Speech

• Jackie Robinson (1957) joined picket lines and attended civil rights rallies.
  • "I cannot stand and sing the anthem. I cannot salute the flag. I know that I am a Black man in a white world."
  • "Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs?"
  • "A lot of the [Black] athletes thought that winning [Olympic] medals would supersede or protect them from racism. But even if you won a medal, it ain’t going to save your momma. It ain’t going to save your sister or children. It might give you 15 minutes of fame, but what about the rest of your life?"

  (Dreier, P. (2017, September 28). Athletes and activism. American Prospect Magazine )