Book description
Often, great legal decisions result from the actions of an unknown person heroically opposing the system. This work details how one person's objection to mandatory school prayer became one of the most controversial cases of this century.
Why read it?
1 author picked Ellery's Protest as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Talk about a badass. In 1956, 16-year-old Ellery Schempp protested his school’s mandatory prayer and Bible-reading period by reading silently from the Koran. He was kicked out of class and sued his school district, insisting that the First Amendment barred it from promoting a particular religious creed. Eventually, in Abington v. Schempp, the Supreme Court agreed. But along the way, kids called Schempp and his family “Commies” (it was the 1950s, remember) and his principal tried to get Tufts University to rescind its admission offer to him. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court permitted a football coach and devout…
From Jonathan's list on student activism.
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