On August 27, 1956, twelve black teenagers entered Clinton High School for the first time. What followed shocked the world… and changed a nation.

50 years after Clinton, Tennessee became the first Southern town to desegregate a school, the former 1935 Clinton Colored School reopened as a civil rights museum.

The Green McAdoo Cultural Center focuses on the period from 1956-1958 when 12 black students first attended the all-white Clinton High School.  The brick building had been considered for demolition before the city was urged by relatives of the original Clinton 12 to turn it into a museum.  With $750,000 from the federal government, the city broke ground in February 2006.

The two original classrooms were faithfully restored to their 50’s-era style and serve as the background for a civil rights exhibit highlighting the school’s pioneering role in the desegregation movement.  This $2.5 million project extends beyond the building to include new parking and sitework, life-size bronze statues of the Clinton 12 inspired by a 1956 photo of their daily walk down Foley Hill, and a full-length documentary narrated by James Earl Jones.

The renovation was completed in exactly 6 months and opened on the 50th anniversary of the integration. It is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.