‘A Most Tolerant Little Town’ tells the little-known story of school desegregation in East Tennessee

Most people remember seeing photos in our history books of the crowds outside Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, taunting and threatening nine Black students as they tried to get to class. But the small town of Clinton in East Tennessee has its own story of integration that’s largely forgotten. After a federal court order, twelve Black students enrolled in Clinton’s high school in 1956, a year before the Little Rock Nine.

Rachel Louise Martin’s new book, A Most Tolerant Little Town, tells the story of Clinton’s desegregation. Martin spent almost two decades researching the story and collecting oral histories from Clinton’s residents, both Black and white.

This is Nashville talks to Martin about Clinton and plays excerpts from her oral histories. We’ll learn how this event prompted ordinary people to do extraordinary things, both good and evil.

Guests:

• Rachel Louise Martin, historian, author

This episode was produced by Char Daston.