WASHINGTON (AP) — Mary Beth Tinker was just 13 when she spoke out against the Vietnam War by wearing a black armband to her Iowa school in 1965.

Mary Beth Tinker, 1965 (Photo from ACLU.org)

When the school suspended her, she took her free speech case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and won, in Tinker vs. the Des Moines Independent Community School District. Now 61, she’s quit her part-time job as a nurse and will travel the country, urging young people to take action on issues important to them.

Starting Tuesday, Tinker will begin traveling in a recreational vehicle to 17 states and the District of Columbia as part of what’s being called the “Tinker Tour.” She’ll log 10,000 to 15,000 miles before her tour ends Nov. 25 in Kansas City, Mo. Along the way, she’ll stop at more than three dozen locations, most of them schools.

(For more on the Tinker US SUPCO case, visit http://www.uscourts.gov/multimedia/podcasts/Landmarks/tinkervdesmoines.aspx)