PHOTO FINISH
ARRESTING IMAGES FROM THE ANNALS OF THE PAST
The ‘Clinton 12’ go to school 1956
As white students line the entrance to Clinton High School in Tennessee, a group of 12 African-American boys and girls show remarkable courage as figureheads of integration. The landmark US Supreme Court ruling, Brown v Board of Education (1954) had declared racial segregation in schools to be unconstitutional, but many Americans found this a hard decision to accept. When Clinton was court-ordered to desegregate for its 1956-57 academic year, the enrolment of the so-called ‘Clinton 12’ was met with protests and rising racial tensions, and the students faced harassment and the threat of violence. But Bobby Cain (left) persevered and became the first black graduate from a desegregated Tennessee school.