BusinessTN

On Aug. 27, 1956, Clinton, Tenn., became a battleground in the Civil Rights Movement, distinguishing itself as the first to integrate a state-run school as Clinton High School opened its doors to 12 African-American students—the Clinton 12.

The school’s administration was simply doing what it was told. But that event, which sparked controversy among the townspeople and resulted in a bombing at the high school, might have gone largely undocumented in today’s history books. That is, until a grassroots group of residents petitioned to turn the old Green McAdoo School—the area’s African-American primary school—into a cultural center and museum to preserve that period of time and to educate future generations.

With $2 million raised—including $750,000 of federal funding allocated to the project thanks to lobbying efforts by U.S. Senators Bill Frist and Lamar Alexander—the old, two-room schoolhouse was renovated and opened in August 2006 in time to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the day many consider a victory for civil rights in the United States. Marilyn Hayden, a Clinton resident and younger sibling of one of the 12, is the museum’s curator. She says early media attention of the Green McAdoo’s opening has drawn visitors from all over the country, and some internationally.

Filmmaker Keith McDaniel’s documentary depicting the events surrounding Clinton’s desegregation was named the inaugural recipient of the Nashville Public Television Human Spirit Award in April. (McDaniel also produced Secret City: The Oak Ridge Story.)

While the museum does well serving its original purpose, the planners wanted the facility to become a destination, hosting traveling exhibits and civic group events. The Green McAdoo’s subject matter opened up “a niche we didn’t see coming,” says Steve Jones, Clinton’s city manager. The Green McAdoo has become a preferred location to offer mandatory diversity training for corporate employees such as area Wal-Mart managers.

Later this year, Jones hopes to get the building and the hill down which The Clinton 12 walked to school designated as a historical landmark. That distinction would literally put the Green McAdoo on the map and qualify the center for additional federal funding that could be used to further expand the museum experience.

More publicity came in May when bronze statues depicting the likenesses of each of the Clinton 12 was erected—an event Hayden hoped would bring the international attention she and other supporters have been waiting for.

Other stories of school integration in America have through the years seized more notoriety than the Clinton 12. The popular PBS documentary Eyes on the Prize, for instance, chronicles the story of the Little Rock Nine, who in September 1957, more than a year after the Clinton 12 event, integrated Central High School in the Arkansas capital, though only after then-President Dwight Eisenhower ordered in paratroopers to protect them. Forty years later, then-President Bill Clinton very publicly commemorated that event in his home state by holding open the doors of the school to the nine courageous former students. Perhaps now, as a result of much local effort on the part of people who care in Anderson County, the Clinton 12 have finally taken their rightful place in history.