Clinton High School, Tennessee

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This page is about Clinton High School in the state of Tenneessee. For other Clinton high schools see Clinton High School.

Clinton High School (CHS) is the Anderson County high school that serves the cities of Oliver Springs & Clinton, Tennessee.

Clinton High School
CHS Dragon
Principal Linda Davis
School type Public
Religious affiliation None
Founded 1903
Location Clinton, Tennessee
Enrollment ~1,116
Faculty ~97
Campus surroundings Medium Town
Mascot Dragon
School colors Orange & Black

Contents

[edit] History

1903 Clinton High School was built on the current location of Clinton Elementary School.

1916-17 The first basketball teams were formed at Clinton High School (Men's & Women's).

1923-24 The first football team was organized at Clinton High School.

1927 A new high school building, which consolidated CHS with several county schools, was opened at the current location of Clinton Middle School.

1954 Clinton High School first accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).

1956 See Integration below.

1958 On Sunday, October 5, the school was blown apart by three massive explosions.

1958-60 CHS students were transported to Oak Ridge to continue classes while the school was rebuilt.

1963 Plans were presented to consolidate several elementary schools, create 2 junior high schools, and construct a new Clinton Senior High School for grades 10-12.

1968-69 Clinton Senior High School was completed.

1977 Vocational programs were offered to CSHS students as the Anderson County Center of Occupational Development was opened.

1989 With the new addition of a library, science labs, a cafeteria, and several new classrooms, the 9th grade was moved to CSHS which again became Clinton High School. (Clinton Junior High School and Norwood Junior High School became middle schools.)

[edit] Integration

Following the U.S. Supreme Court's 1954 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, federal judge Robert Taylor ordered Clinton High School to desegregate with "all deliberate speed" in the fall of 1956. The integration of Clinton High School was forced to be first among Tennessee public schools. Anti-integration campaigners from inside and outside Clinton, inspired by white supremacist John Kasper, protested the decision to integrate the high school (Tennessee Historical Quarterly, Vol LVI). After violence was narrowly averted on the lawn of the Anderson County Courthouse on September 1, National Guard troops were called into the city for two months to keep order.[1]

The twelve black students who attended Clinton High School that fall became known as the "Clinton 12". On the morning of each school day they walked together down Broad Street from Foley Hill to Clinton High. On the morning of December 4, Rev. Paul Turner of the First Baptist Church was severely beaten after escorting the twelve students to school. The twelve students were Jo Ann Allen (now Boyce), Bobby Cain, Theresser Caswell, Minnie Ann Dickey (now Jones), Gail Ann Epps (now Upton), Ronald Hayden, William Latham, Alvah J. McSwain (now Lambert), Maurice Soles, Robert Thacker, Regina Turner (now Smith), and Alfred Williams. On February 10, 2006, Williams, Cain, and Soles re-enacted their walk to school from Foley Hill to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1956 integration. According to the city manager of Clinton, bronze statues of the Clinton 12 are being constructed, and will be displayed outside the former Green McAdoo School, where the twelve students attended school before 1956. [1]

Early in the morning of October 5, 1958, the Clinton High School building was destroyed by a series of dynamite explosions. An estimated 75 to 100 sticks of dynamite had been placed in three locations in the building. No one was injured, but Clinton was once again the focus of attention over a crime that was universally assumed to be related to the school's desegregation.

[edit] Athletics

Clinton Dragons compete in Class AAAA of Region 3 in Football. They compete in Class AAA in the following sports:

  • Women's Basketball
  • Men's Basketball
  • Baseball
  • Softball
  • Volleyball
  • Men's Soccer
  • Women's Soccer

[edit] Arts

Clinton High School also has award winning Marching and Concert Bands.

[edit] Sources

  1. ^ a b Fowler, Bob. ""The Ultimate Risk"", Knoxville News-Sentinel, Scripps, 2006-02-26, pp. B1, B4, B5. Retrieved on 2006-05-21.

[edit] External links

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