--- title: Integration and Back-to-School Season's Fight for Equality description: In 1956, LIFE Magazine visited a town in Tennessee where the national battle over school integration had hit close to home. canonical: https://time.com/4916312/school-integration-clinton-history/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-01T15:00:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:50:19.210Z og:title: When Back-to-School Season Became a Fight for Equality og:description: In 1956, LIFE Magazine visited a Tennessee town battling over school integration og:url: https://time.com/4916312/school-integration-clinton-history/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1e3f0125e208648e/6988db3097cdff39df6b22ee/170825-school-integration-16.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2405 og:image:height: 1353 og:image:alt: School Integration 1956 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: When Back-to-School Season Became a Fight for Equality twitter:description: In 1956, LIFE Magazine visited a Tennessee town battling over school integration twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1e3f0125e208648e/6988db3097cdff39df6b22ee/170825-school-integration-16.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # When Back-to-School Season Became a Fight for Equality > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/) and [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) Sep 1, 2017 3:00 PM UTC  Caption from LIFE. Heading to school after National Guard had moved into town and begun patrolling, 10 of Clinton High's 12 Negro students start the half-mile walk. Previously Negroes had had to ride 16 miles to a Negro school in Knoxville. Clinton's principal told this group, "You have all shown great courage." Caption from LIFE. Heading to school after National Guard had moved into town and begun patrolling, 10 of Clinton High's 12 Negro students start the half-mile walk. Previously Negroes had had to ride 16 miles to a Negro school in Knoxville. Clinton's principal told this group, "You have all shown great courage."Howard Sochurek—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/) and [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) Sep 1, 2017 3:00 PM UTC As Labor Day’s approach sends students across the U.S. heading back to class, they and their parents naturally hope that this [back-to-school season](http://time.com/4911640/back-to-school-bullying-children/) will be smooth and happy. But just a few decades ago, that return to the classroom was in many places dominated by a serious struggle — the fight over the right to equality in education. Though the [most famous photographs](http://time.com/3874341/little-rock-nine-1957-photos/) of the conflict over school integration would be taken the following year in Little Rock, Ark., in 1956 school integration was, as LIFE [put it](https://books.google.com/books?id=6kcEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PA34#v=twopage&q&f=false) in a story that September, already “the greatest unresolved national issue.” The Supreme Court had ruled on the matter in [_Brown v. Board of Education_](http://time.com/3879874/brown-v-board-of-education-photos-of-integration-in-virginia/) two years before, but the implementation of that order was still being met with violence in places like Clinton, Tenn., as seen in the photos above by Howard Sochurek and Robert W. Kelley. LIFE reported that the desegregation process in Clinton (a town that had been [involved in court battles](http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=279) on the subject for years by that point) had seemed to be moving relatively peacefully until a white supremacist named John Kasper came to town from New Jersey. He helped [instigate](https://books.google.com/books?id=90cEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA46&dq=%22john+kasper%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj55--Pv%5FrVAhWEQSYKHXYfDkEQ6AEILDAB#v=onepage&q=%22john%20kasper%22&f=false) citizens to rebel against the law that required the town’s white high school to serve citizens of all races starting in the new fall term that year. Though Kasper was sentenced to a year in jail by a federal judge in Knoxville, his influence had already contributed to mob violence that peaked that Labor Day weekend. Things were bad enough to lead town leaders to ask for state help, leading the governor to call in the state police and the National Guard to help a local band of newly recruited deputies make sure the order for integration was followed. Even though many of the officials involved had previously acted to support segregation, they recognized that this law had to be obeyed. The week of violence ended with a dozen African-American high-schoolers in class at the integrated high school. Though problems in the area would continue for months — and de facto [school segregation](http://time.com/3258196/integration-little-rock/) remains a [serious problem](http://time.com/4343012/school-segregation/) in [many places ](http://time.com/4551029/john-oliver-racism-school-segregation-last-week-tonight/)in the United States today — that September the presence of those 12 students was a victory to be celebrated. “In spite of agitation, in spite of zealots and the misgivings of the majority, the pattern was changing,” LIFE noted. “This fall 45,000 Negro students were free to attend integrated schools for the first time. It was a slow, small, painful change but it began to look inevitable.”  Caption from LIFE. A line of National Guardsmen face off a night crowd on Clinton's Main Street. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Harassing negroes, a mob, which included women, rocks an out-of-state car passing through Clinton. For four hours the town police stood by helpless as cars were dented and windows smashed. Two Negroes were roughed up. A policeman persuaded part of mob to attack only Tennessee cars. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A group of teenage boys with signs on their car protesting school integration in Clinton, Tenn. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A crowd attacking cars driven by African Americans to protest integration in the schools in Clinton, Tenn. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  National Guard on the streets during race riots in Clinton, Tenn. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Night skirmish occurred when deputies threw tear gas bombs at crowd. Mob broke up briefly, regrouped, threatened until state police quelled them. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  National Guard on the streets during race riots in Clinton, Tenn. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Fourteen-year-old student Ronald Hayden holding his school books outside his home in Clinton, Tenn. Howard Sochurek—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A scene from the African-American section of Clinton, Tenn.,with some of the youths who will be going to Clinton High School. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Students Robert Thacker (L) and Minnie Ann Dickey relaxing in the African-American section of town in Clinton, Tenn. Howard Sochurek—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Major General Joseph Henry Jr., who led the two Guard battalions. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Pro-segregation agitator John Kasper (C), being led off in handcuffs, during school integration troubles in Clinton, Tenn. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  White rioters standing around during the demonstrations regarding the school integration issue in Clinton, Tenn. Howard Sochurek—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  The National Guard patting down white prisoners while escorting them away during the demonstration around school integration in Clinton, Tenn. Howard Sochurek—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  National Guard in Clinton, Tenn., with M-41 tanks during riots about school integration. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Heading to school after National Guard had moved into town and begun patrolling, 10 of Clinton High's 12 Negro students start the half-mile walk. Previously Negroes had had to ride 16 miles to a Negro school in Knoxville. Clinton's principal told this group, "You have all shown great courage." Howard Sochurek—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  National Guardsmen escorting African-American teens through the front door of school, while white students watch on in Clinton, Tenn. Howard Sochurek—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A scene from inside Clinton High School on the first day of integration, in Clinton, Tenn. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  "The Halting And Fitful Battle For Integration." From the Sep. 17, 1956 issue of LIFE magazine. LIFE Magazine  "The Halting And Fitful Battle For Integration." From the Sep. 17, 1956 issue of LIFE magazine. LIFE Magazine  "The Halting And Fitful Battle For Integration." From the Sep. 17, 1956 issue of LIFE magazine. LIFE Magazine  "The Halting And Fitful Battle For Integration." From the Sep. 17, 1956 issue of LIFE magazine. 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