Twelve students, one bombed school: The fight for equality in Tennessee

How a group of brave students led integration efforts and continues to serve as inspiration as the push for equity continues

Members of the so-called Clinton 12 walk to class at Clinton High School in Clinton, Tennessee, in 1956. The school was the first in the South to integrate due to federal court order, and these brave students endured untold abuse and racial hostility — simply to obtain the education to which they were legally entitled. The fight for educational equity in Tennessee — and beyond — continues today. (Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

Clinton High School, a small campus in Anderson County, Tennessee, was considered one of the best schools in the state when it drew national attention nearly 70 years ago.

In 1956, three years after the Supreme Court declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education, Clinton High became the first Southern school to be integrated by federal court order. That fall, 12 Black students enrolled for the new year — Jo Ann Allen, Bobby Cain, Minnie Ann Dickey, Ronald Gordon, William Latham, Alvah J. McSwain, Maurice Soles, Robert Thacker, Regina Turner, Gail Ann Upton, Alfred Williams, and Charles Wade.

What happened next in Clinton was a harbinger for what would happen across the South as the country sent young people to the front lines of the battle to end legal segregation. Then, and now, children and young people shoulder the burden and experience the fallout of fixing our broken world.

Let’s take a closer look at this historical milestone, which continues to remain extremely relevant as the fight for civil rights and educational equity continues — across Tennessee and beyond.

Making history

The “Clinton 12” were the first Black students to experience the hate later faced by Ruby Bridges, the Little Rock Nine, and countless other Black students across the country in the wake of the Brown decision. They were bullied, terrorized, discriminated against — and not just at school, but at their homes and in their communities. Crosses were burned. Violent mobs attacked. Hate-filled rioters burned fires in towns across the state, so much so that the governor deployed the National Guard.

The vitriol was widespread, and it was organized.

The integration of Clinton High would become a touchpoint for white supremacists throughout Tennessee and across the south. After all, this wasn’t just any high school. This was a high school in a state that birthed the Klu Klux Klan. White supremacists used the high school as a rallying cry.

Bobby Cain, a member of the Clinton 12, is harassed by white students as he enters Clinton High School in Clinton, Tennessee. (Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

Just as people and groups on the extreme right have descended on towns across Tennessee in recent years to push a white supremacy agenda, court-mandated integration brought out-of-town hate pouring into the streets of the previously quiet little town of Clinton.

Despite efforts of members in the community — both Black and white — to protect the Clinton 12, several of the students were forced to leave Clinton High to stay safe, with some even moving out of state. In the end, just two of the 12 — Bobby Cain and Gail Ann Epps — would graduate from the school they integrated.

The Clinton 12 took the first steps toward integration, but the battle for desegregation and racial equity was far from over after they left the school.

Just two years after the Clinton 12 enrolled, Clinton High went up in flames. The school was bombed, and the criminal who carried out the hate crime was never brought to justice. People in town came together to provide a temporary space for students, and they eventually rebuilt Clinton High School. Students, Black and white, once again filled its halls, thanks to the efforts of so many regular people coming together to stand against hate.

Far-reaching impacts

The desegregation of Clinton High was more than a local issue — it was a flashpoint in the national struggle for civil rights. The deployment of the National Guard in Clinton, in particular, established a precedent for the role of the federal government in enforcing civil rights legislation. It also set the stage for future interventions in places like Little Rock, Arkansas. In the decades since, we’ve seen this national struggle for civil rights continue — and it is still very much a struggle in Tennessee.

In 2021, Tennessee became the first state to pass a law censoring what public school instructors can teach about race and the fight for racial justice in our nation. Tennessee continues to lead the nation in the number of proposed and passed bills aimed at censoring educational materials and undermining civil rights.

Derrick Johnson, the President and CEO of the NAACP, noted in remarks on the recent 70th anniversary of the Brown decision: “The effort to establish equitable access to education continues to be an uphill battle for Black Americans as we witness modern day attacks on educational rights.”

This, unfortunately, is true — not just in Tennessee, but from coast to coast. It’s why NCYL continues to do the work that it does, fighting for educational equity, and it’s why it’s so important that we pause to reflect on the impact of students like the Clinton 12 and what we as a nation ask our young people to carry.

The National Center for Youth Law believes in a future in which all children and young people have a full and fair opportunity to thrive and achieve the future they envision for themselves.