Desegregation in Tennessee

Clinton, Tennessee — African-American teens walk through a tense crowd of white boys to enter the newly integrated Clinton High School.  In 1956, a year before the famous Little Rock 9, twelve young black men and women in Tennessee became the first to desegregate an all-white high school.

Three student protesters.

The National Guard stands watch outside the school’s front steps.

An angry mob attempts to overturn a car carrying blacks.

Here, students gather around their teacher outside of the bombed Clinton High School in 1958. Two years after the integration, anger and violence continued.

images via LOC and here.