12/15/2007:
Today is Bill of Rights Day. It was on this day in history that the Bill of Rights was ratified in 1791 in Virginia, and in 1967, the Minot Daily News ran an article expressing the importance of this day.
"With (the Bill of Rights), the Constitution is a transcendent assertion of freedom from the tyrannies and excesses of authority that have plagued men down the centuries. A cautionary word must be urged upon those who pause to think about this, however…in the matter of freedoms, society cannot rest on its laurels."
The same paper reported on another document of freedom very important to the youth of 1967—a personal freedom of style.
The Minot School board, "acting on the theory of majority," continued to insist that long hair was "taboo" at schools.
The board members used two petitions to decide this. One, signed by approximately 83 students from Jim Hill Junior High and 225 from Ramatad Junior High, was decidedly against the long-hair ban. The other, signed by 680 students from Jim Hill Junior High, accepted the policy on hair as being fair, but requested that they be allowed to wear blue jeans.
I guess in the matter of freedom, it's a sign of the times.
Written by: Sarah Walker
Sources:
Minot Daily News, Thursday, Dec. 14, 1967, p.4, p.5
Minot Daily News, Friday, Dec. 15, 1967, p.12