KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — During the Civil Rights Movement, Black students had to fight through several kinds of struggles to earn equal opportunities, such as going to public schools.
In 1956, 12 Black students enrolled in Clinton High School and broke the color barrier in public education in the south. They were the first students to desegregate a state-supported high school in the region.
Their names were Maurice Soles, Anna Theresser Caswell, Alfred Williams, Regina Turner Smith, William R. Latham, Gail Ann Epps Upton, Ronald Gordon "Poochie" Hayden, JoAnn Crozier Allen Boyce, Robert Thacker, Bobby Cain, Minnie Ann Dickey Jones and Alvah McSwain.
They later became known as the Clinton 12, after they faced protestors who tried to stop their enrollment. Their classmates hurled abuse at them as they tried to learn, and the school was even bombed in response to them enrolling like other students.
However, city and county leaders both supported desegregation efforts and students. Experts and community members alike said that their struggles helped change history and give people better access to opportunity.