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U.S. Reps. Cooper, Fleischmann introduce resolution honoring Tennessee’s ‘Clinton 12’ students in 1956 school desegregation ruling

Minnie Ann Dickey Jones, one of the "Clinton 12," the first students to attend a court-ordered desegregated school in the South, shows off the statue that depicts her as a teenager during a dedication ceremony for the statue, Thursday, May 17, 2007, in Clinton, Tenn. On their first day at Clinton High School on Aug. 27, 1956, the students walked down the hill from their neighborhood and passed hundreds of taunting, angry white people. The governor at the time sent troops to the small town outside Knoxville to uphold the law. (AP Photo/Knoxville News Sentinel, Clay Owen )
Minnie Ann Dickey Jones, one of the "Clinton 12," the first students to attend a court-ordered desegregated school in the South, shows off the statue that depicts her as a teenager during a dedication ceremony for the statue, Thursday, May 17, 2007, in Clinton, Tenn. On their first day at Clinton High School on Aug. 27, 1956, the students walked down the hill from their neighborhood and passed hundreds of taunting, angry white people. The governor at the time sent troops to the small town outside Knoxville to uphold the law. (AP Photo/Knoxville News Sentinel, Clay Owen ) Minnie Ann Dickey Jones, one of the "Clinton 12," the first students to attend a court-ordered desegregated school in the South, shows off the statue that depicts her as a teenager during a dedication ceremony for the statue, Thursday, May 17, 2007, in Clinton, Tenn. On their first day at Clinton High School on Aug. 27, 1956, the students walked down the hill from their neighborhood and passed hundreds of taunting, angry white people. The governor at the time sent troops to the small town outside Knoxville to uphold the law. (AP Photo/Knoxville News Sentinel, Clay Owen )

By Andy Sher 3 min read

NASHVILLE – U.S. Reps. Jim Cooper, D-Nashville, and Chuck Fleischmann, R-Ooltewah, have teamed up to sponsor a congressional resolution honoring the bravery and legacy of a dozen Black students known as the “Clinton 12,” who in 1956 were among the first students to desegregate a Tennessee public high school.

Cooper called it a “privilege and an honor to honor their bravery and faith here today.”

A U.S. district judge in Tennessee ordered desegregation in a legal case following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education desegregation case two years earlier.

Fleischmann’s congressional district includes Anderson County, which includes the city of Clinton. He said in the news release the Clinton 12 “embody our nation’s creed that ‘all men are created equal’ and entitled to equal rights and justice under the law.’

“They represent the best in America and Tennessee and changed our state and our nation,” Fleischmann continued. “I am proud to honor their courage and dedication to equality.”