CIA Archives: The Clinton 12 (1957)

The dark side of history: https://thememoryhole.substack.com/

Clinton High School in Clinton, Tennessee, is the Anderson County, Tennessee, high school that serves students living in and near Clinton, Oliver Springs, and Claxton.
History

This section is in list format but may read better as prose. You can help by converting this section, if appropriate. Editing help is available. (January 2015)

1806 Union Academy, a state-sponsored institution, was chartered for Anderson County.

1820s Union Academy began operations. A wooden structure was built on South Main Street in Clinton.

1860s Union Academy was destroyed by fire during the American Civil War.

1868 A new Union Academy was constructed on the present site of Clinton Elementary School.

1895 The newly established Clinton City School system took over operations of the Academy building. By this time, the Academy was already being referred to as Clinton High School.

1903 A new brick Clinton High School was built on the current location of Clinton Elementary School.

1916–17 The first basketball teams were formed at Clinton High School (Men's & Women's).

1923–24 The first football team was organized at Clinton High School. They were known as the Orange and Black “Tornadoes.”

1927 A new high school building, which consolidated CHS with several county schools, was opened at the current location of Clinton Middle School. The city school system turned over operations of CHS to the county school system. At some point, the mascot was changed to “Dragons.”

1954 Clinton High School first accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).

1956 See Integration below.

1958 On Sunday, October 5, the school was blown apart by three massive explosions.

1958–60 CHS students were transported to Oak Ridge to continue classes while the school was rebuilt.

1963 Plans were presented to consolidate several elementary schools, create 2 junior high schools, and construct a new Clinton Senior High School for grades 10-12.

1968–69 Clinton Senior High School was completed.

1977 Vocational programs were offered to CSHS students as the Anderson County Center of Occupational Development was opened.

1989 With the new addition of a library, science labs, a cafeteria, and several new classrooms, the 9th grade was moved to CSHS which again became Clinton High School. (Clinton Junior High School and Norwood Junior High School became middle schools.)
Integration
These life-size bronze statues of the twelve black students who integrated Clinton High School in 1956 stand outside the former Green McAdoo School in Clinton.

In January 1956, federal judge Robert L. Taylor ordered Clinton High School to desegregate with "all deliberate speed" in accordance with the U.S. Supreme Court's 1954 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. On August 27, 1956, 12 African-American students became the first to integrate a previously all-white school in Tennessee. [2]

Anti-integration campaigners from inside and outside Clinton protested the decision to integrate the school.[3] They were inspired by New Jersey white supremacist John Kasper and Asa Carter both of whom spoke publicly in Clinton on September 1, 1956[4] against the decision to integrate the high school.[3] After violence was narrowly averted on the lawn of the Anderson County Courthouse on September 1, National Guard troops were called into the city for two months to keep order.[5] The protests resulted in a jury trial for criminal contempt, of which seven of ten defendants were convicted.[6]

The twelve black students who attended Clinton High School that fall became known as "The Clinton 12". On the morning of each school day they walked together down Broad Street from Foley Hill to Clinton High. On the morning of December 4, 1956, Rev. Paul Turner, the white minister of the First Baptist Church, was severely beaten after escorting the twelve students to school.[7] The twelve students were Jo Ann Boyce (née Allen), Bobby Cain, Theresser Caswell, Minnie Ann Jones (née Dickey), Gail Ann Upton (née Epps), Ronald Hayden, William Latham, Alvah J. Lambert (née McSwain), Maurice Soles, Robert Thacker, Regina Smith (née Turner), and Alfred Williams.

On February 10, 2006, Williams, Cain, from Foley Hill to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1956 integration.[5][failed verification] A bronze statue of the "Clinton Twelve" is now displayed outside a newly remodeled front entrance to the former Green McAdoo School, where the twelve students had attended elementary school.[5] In February 2016, Disney Channel and sister network Disney XD aired a short for Black History Month. In the short, Disney star Cameron Boyce, the grandson of Jo Ann Boyce, one of the Clinton 12 students, talked about the school. The short also featured his grandmother, Jo Ann Boyce.

Early in the morning of October 5, 1958, the Clinton High School building was severely damaged by a series of dynamite explosions. An estimated 75 to 100 sticks of dynamite had been placed in three locations in the building. No one was injured, but school officials estimated damages at $300,000.[8] Clinton was once again the focus of attention over a crime that was universally assumed to be related to the school's desegregation. While the school was rebuilt, Clinton High School students were bused to Oak Ridge where the school operated in the recently vacated building that had housed Linden Elementary School. Clinton High School reopened in its own building in 1960.

The documentary The Clinton 12 is a historical review of these events, and was aired widely on PBS in 2008 and 2009. The members of the Clinton 12 were inducted into the Clinton High School Wall of Fame in 2005 (Bobby Cain), 2007 (Gail Ann Epps Upton) and 2010.[9]
Athletics

Clinton Dragons compete in TSSAA Class AAAAA of Region 3 in Football. They compete in Class TSSAA AAA in the following sports:

Baseball
Men's Basketball
Women's Basketball
Fishing
Football
Men's Golf
Women’s Golf
Softball
Men's Soccer
Women's Soccer
Track and Field
Volleyball
Wrestling

Environment

The school is also home to a prototype solar-powered classroom called the "Net-Zero Building". The small classroom, built by students under the direction of teacher Riley Sain, allows students to watch movies and more using the power of the sun. The school has also received multiple grants from various organizations, including the TWRA, to remove rip-rap from the creek in front of the school in an effort to return it to its natural state.
Notable alumni

Charles McRae, former Tampa Bay Buccaneers and University of Tennessee lineman
Larry Seivers, former Seattle Seahawks and University of Tennessee wide receiver
Bobby Cain, a member of the Clinton 12 and the first African American student to graduate from a court-ordered state-supported high school in the South. https://www.knoxvilledailysun.com/news/2022/february/clinton-twelve.html.
Gail Ann Epps, a member of the Clinton 12 and the first African-American female student to graduate from a court-ordered state-supported high school in the South. https://tnmuseum.org/junior-curators/posts/the-clinton-12-the-integration-story-of-tennessees-public-schools?locale=en_us.
Alfred Williams, a member of the Clinton 12. https://tnmuseum.org/junior-curators/posts/the-clinton-12-the-integration-story-of-tennessees-public-schools?locale=en_us.
Alvah Jay McSwain, a member of the Clinton 12. https://tnmuseum.org/junior-curators/posts/the-clinton-12-the-integration-story-of-tennessees-public-schools?locale=en_us.
Anna Theresser Caswell, a member of the Clinton 12. https://tnmuseum.org/junior-curators/posts/the-clinton-12-the-integration-story-of-tennessees-public-schools?locale=en_us.
Maurice Soles, a member of the Clinton 12. https://tnmuseum.org/junior-curators/posts/the-clinton-12-the-integration-story-of-tennessees-public-schools?locale=en_us.
Minnie Ann Dickey, a member of the Clinton 12. https://tnmuseum.org/junior-curators/posts/the-clinton-12-the-integration-story-of-tennessees-public-schools?locale=en_us.
Regina Turner, a member of the Clinton 12. https://tnmuseum.org/junior-curators/posts/the-clinton-12-the-integration-story-of-tennessees-public-schools?locale=en_us.
Robert Thacker, a member of the Clinton 12. https://tnmuseum.org/junior-curators/posts/the-clinton-12-the-integration-story-of-tennessees-public-schools?locale=en_us.
Ronald Gordon Hayden, a member of the Clinton 12. https://tnmuseum.org/junior-curators/posts/the-clinton-12-the-integration-story-of-tennessees-public-schools?locale=en_us.
William Latham, a member of the Clinton 12. https://tnmuseum.org/junior-curators/posts/the-clinton-12-the-integration-story-of-tennessees-public-schools?locale=en_us.
Jo Ann Allen, a member of the Clinton 12. https://tnmuseum.org/junior-curators/posts/the-clinton-12-the-integration-story-of-tennessees-public-schools?locale=en_us.

References

"Clinton High School". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
Momodu, Samuel (11 September 2019). "The Clinton Desegregation Crisis (1956)". blackpast.org. Retrieved 29 October 2020. "Nonetheless on August 26, 1956, the Clinton Twelve made history as the first African Americans to integrate a previously all-white school in the state of Tennessee."
McClelland, Janice M. (Winter 1997). "A Structural Analysis of Desegregation: Clinton High School, 1954-1958". Tennessee Historical Quarterly. 56 (4): 16. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
"Integration Troubles". New York Times, September 2, 1956
Fowler, Bob (2006-02-26). "The Ultimate Risk". Knoxville News-Sentinel. Scripps. pp. B1, B4, B5. Archived from the original on 2006-03-22. Retrieved 2006-05-21.
"Surprise Verdict at Knoxville". The News-Palladium. Benton Harbor, Michigan. July 25, 1957. p. 2.
"Clinton Flareups Bring Blunt Federal Warning". The Deseret News (Salt Lake City). December 5, 1956.
"Washington Gets Clinton's Problem". The Tuscaloosa News. October 8, 1958.

"Clinton High School". Archived from the original on 2016-01-14. Retrieved 2010-12-29.

External links

Clinton High School official website
Information on Marching and Concert bands
CHS Class of 1964
Clinton Desegregation Crisis in Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture
The short film Clinton High School and the Law (ca. 1975) is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive.
Fowler, Bob (2006-02-26). "What's wrong with these people?". Knoxville News-Sentinel. Scripps. p. B4. Retrieved 2006-05-22.
Fowler, Bob (2006-02-26). "Every morning, another ordeal". Knoxville News-Sentinel. Scripps. p. B4. Retrieved 2006-05-22.

The Clinton 12 were a group of twelve African-American students who integrated the previously all white Clinton High School in Clinton, Tennessee in 1956. These students were some of the first to participate in desegregation of southern K–12 public schools following the 1954 Supreme Court ruling of Brown v. Board of Education. The Clinton 12 were subject to discrimination and violence for attending the all-white high school, which caused some of them to leave the school and move to other states. The integration of Clinton High School caused turmoil in both its Black and white communities. Out of the original twelve, only two students of the group ended up graduating from the school. The twelve original students were Jo Ann Allen, Bobby Cain, Anna Theresser Caswell, Gail Ann Epps, Minnie Ann Dickey, Ronald Gordon Hayden, William Latham, Alvah Jay McSwain, Maurice Soles, Robert Thacker, Regina Turner, and Alfred Williams.[1]
Background

In 1954 the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that Tennessee schools had to desegregate in the case of Brown v. Board of Education. Prior to that decision, schools for white students received much more money than their Black counterparts.[2] Black students in Anderson County were bused to Knoxville (a 35-minute drive, one way) to attend their segregated schools.[2] Black families and the Black community sought equal education for their children, and the matter was taken to the courts. In 1950, a few years prior to the Supreme Court ruling, some African-American students tried to enroll in Clinton High School but were denied. This issue was taken to court and became known as McSwain et al. v. County Board of Education of Anderson County, Tennessee. The judge ruled that the students could not enroll. After Brown v. Board of Education, Anderson County Public Schools tried to delay desegregation of schools as long as they could, but were ordered in January 1956 to start the process in the upcoming school year. In the fall of 1956, the Clinton 12 enrolled at Clinton High School.[1]
Integration
External videos
video icon Q&A interview with Rachel Louise Martin on A Most Tolerant Little Town: The Explosive Beginning of School Desegregation, July 30, 2023, C-SPAN

The first day of classes for the Clinton 12 was mostly peaceful. But the second day was filled with violence, protests, and riots. A group of white supremacists and people who favored segregation showed up to Clinton to stop the desegregation. The leader of this group was John Kasper who was an executive of the White Citizens Council and a member of the Ku Klux Klan. This group of adults, along with white students, screamed obscenities and threats at the Clinton 12 as they entered the school. Even after a judge ordered him to stop, Kasper led large protests outside the school until he was arrested for contempt of court. Unfortunately, even with Kasper in jail, violence and unrest were still at an all-time high. A new segregationist leader, Asa Carter, came in to continue the riots.[3]

During the first two days of the school year in September, white supremacists and pro-segregationists damaged or destroyed property including windows and vehicles. They also sent bomb threats to several local places and people in the community, including the county courthouse, the local newspaper, and even the mayor's house. The Tennessee National Guard was sent down to Clinton to restore peace.[4]

Discrimination and threats continued after the National Guard arrived. Crosses were burned in the yards of community members who supported integration, and the Black communities of the Clinton 12 were terrorized, with guns and dynamite used at their homes and businesses. The violence became so severe that many of the Clinton 12 withdrew from the school. The Clinton principal's family, as well as some of the Clinton 12 families, fled the town for their safety.[citation needed]

The few of the Clinton 12 that remained had to be escorted to school. Paul Turner, a white pastor who escorted the group on December 4, 1956, was attacked and badly beaten by a white mob. This caused the school to close completely for about a week. Clinton saw most of its violence during the first few months after the initial integration with the Clinton 12.[3]

Just two years after the Clinton 12 first integrated the high school, after a period of steady escalation in racial tensions, Clinton High School was bombed and destroyed on October 5, 1958.[4]
Legacy

Due to all the violence and opposition, only two of the Clinton 12 ended up graduating from Clinton High School. Bobby Cain, in 1957, was the first Black man to graduate from Clinton High School, and Gail Ann Epps, in 1958, was the first Black woman.[1] After fundraising by the local community and Reverend Billy Graham, enough funds were collected to rebuild Clinton High School and it opened back up in 1960. After the opening of the new school, there were no major reports or incidents of violence and discrimination.[5] The integration of the Clinton 12 set precedents in the American education system, especially in the South and Appalachian regions of the US.[citation needed]
References

"The Clinton 12: The Integration Story of Tennessee's Public Schools". tnmuseum.org. Retrieved 2022-11-14.
McClelland, Janice M. (1997). "A Structural Analysis of Desegregation: Clinton High School, 1954–1958". Tennessee Historical Quarterly. 56 (4): 294–309. ISSN 0040-3261. JSTOR 42627380.
Equal Justice Initiative (2018). ""Massive Resistance"". Segregation in America: 20–39. JSTOR resrep30692.5.
Randal Rust. "Clinton Desegregation Crisis". Tennessee Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2022-11-14.
"The Clinton Desegregation Crisis (1956) •". 2019-09-12. Retrieved 2022-11-16.