Black armband

A black armband is an armband that is coloured black to signify that the wearer is in mourning or wishes to identify with the commemoration of a family member or friend who has died.

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

In sport, especially association football, cricket, and Australian rules football, players will often wear black armbands following the death of a former player or manager.

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.

Historical gallery

• 
  Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia wearing a black armband in a 1614 portrait
• 
  William Tecumseh Sherman in May 1865, wearing a black ribbon after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln
• 
  Leopold III of Belgium, wearing a black armband contemporary with his ascension to the throne following the death of his father, Albert I
• 
  Franklin D. Roosevelt wearing a black armband in mourning of his mother
• 
  A man wearing a mourning band on his lapel in a glassworks, Sweden, ca 1940–41
• 
  A Berks County sheriff wearing a mourning band on his badge, in Washington, DC, 2012

Use in protest

Main article: Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District

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.

Main article: Black armband protest

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.

See also

• 21-gun salute
• Ten-bell salute
• Three-volley salute