Green McAdoo gets grant for new exhibit
These statues depict The Clinton 12, the first Black students to attend Clinton High School in 1955. They are outside the Green McAdoo Center in Clinton. (photo:Ben Pounds )
The center will use the grant for its upcoming exhibit, “With All Deliberate Speed: School Desegregation Across the Country.” The new exhibit will explore school desegregation in Tennessee and across the country from 1843 to 2016.
The state made available funding to be administered by the Tennessee State Museum, on behalf of the commission, to support statewide America 250 activities.
“The Clinton 12’s story is about our country at a crossroad and the fight for progress,” said Adam Velk, executive director of the Green McAdoo Cultural Center in a news release.
“For our nation’s 250th anniversary, we really wanted to zoom out and connect these stories of school desegregation to provide a better understanding of our nation’s history. We hope that visitors will see the through lines to Clinton and what it means to be American.”
“The Green McAdoo Cultural Center in Clinton, Tennessee is a museum dedicated to telling the story of the Clinton 12 -- the courageous young Black students who in August 1956, quietly entered the front door of all-white Clinton High School,” the news release stated. They made it the first desegregated municipal public high school in the South, although the federally run Oak Ridge High School and Robertsville Junior High School accepted Black students the previous year.
The center opened in 2006 as part of the 50thanniversary commemoration of the historic Clinton High School desegregation event. It is the former site of the segregated Green McAdoo Grammar School, where African American students attended grades first through eighth. The center is open Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. They are located at 101 School St. in Clinton.
In total, the Commission received 365 applications, totaling $6,364,017 in requests. The Commission has made full or partial awards for 194 grants across the state, representing 73 counties, for a total of $2,267,058 awarded. A complete list of second round Tennessee America 250 grantees, counties and amounts is at www.tn250.com.
“I am inspired by the excitement across the state to commemorate our nation’s 250th anniversary,” said Ashley Howell, executive director of the Tennessee State Museum and Chair of the Tennessee Commission for the United States Semiquincentennial. “This year will be filled with exhibitions, programs, festivals, and preservation of our local and state history. We hope that these projects inspire Tennesseans across the state to engage with the anniversary in 2026.”
The Tennessee America 250 Project Support Grants and Community Support Grants had maximum request amounts of $20,000 and $25,000, respectively.
All projects funded in the second round must be completed by April 30, 2027.
