Black armband

[1][2] Black armbands are also worn by uniformed organizations, such as the police, fire services or military, at the funeral or on the death of a sovereign.

In 1965, five students in Des Moines, Iowa, protested silently against the Vietnam War by wearing black armbands in school.

The resulting suspension and legal challenges led in 1969 to the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines, which held that the students' armbands did not create a "substantial disruption" and therefore were constitutionally protected under the First Amendment.

At the 2003 Cricket World Cup in Harare, two players from the Zimbabwe national cricket team wore armbands made of black electrical tape to symbolically mourn "the death of democracy" in Zimbabwe.

This protest was praised abroad and condemned locally, and both men ultimately moved to the United Kingdom.

Richard Norris Wolfenden wearing a black armband, c. 1905.