Introduction

Abstract

For seven months in 1967 and 1968, Earl Mosley carried out a peaceful, quiet and usually solitary protest against racial discrimination in admissions at Jones Commercial High School in Chicago. As he paced the public sidewalk adjoining the school, he held a sign stating: ‘Jones High School practices black discrimination. Jones High School has a black quota.’ His protests at the school came to an end on 4 April 1968, the day before a new Chicago ordinance went into effect. Chicago had prohibited picketing or demonstrating on a public way within 150 feet of a school building during school hours, including half an hour before and after the school day. The ordinance exempted peaceful picketing of a school involved in a labor dispute. Mosley, a federal postal worker, learned about the new ordinance in a newspaper report and inquired of the Chicago Police Department whether the ordinance affected his protest; he was informed that, should he continue, he would be arrested. Mosley’s alternative was to protest across the street from the school, beyond the 150-foot zone. He testified that this method was not particularly effective.

When I was across the street from the school, 150 feet away, you cannot hardly see me. The question that all of the people asked me was, ‘Where is the school located?’ They don’t even see the school across the street, you know. So, what it does, it takes away a certain amount of the effectiveness ... [W]hen I am across the street, I am sort of out of the picture. (Police Department of Chicago v Mosley, 408 US 92, 93, 1972)