Clinton High School

Following a court order by Federal District Judge Robert L. Taylor, on August 27, 1956, 12 black students, now known as the Clinton 12, enrolled in Clinton High School without incident, making it one of the first desegregated public high schools in the South. On Labor Day weekend segregationists led protests and riots, prompting Governor Frank G. Clement to send 600 National Guardsmen to Clinton. Two years later, on October 5, 1958, three bombs exploded at the school, leaving it in ruins. Despite this act, Clinton and Anderson County were able to complete school desegregation without further incident.

Clinton, Tennessee · United States