CLINTON, Tennessee — Tennesseans are mourning the death of Bobby Cain, one of the Clinton 12, the first Black students to integrate Clinton High School in 1956.

Cain died Sunday. He made history in 1957 when he became the first African American student to graduate from the school, breaking barriers in East Tennessee and across the South.

The Clinton 12’s journey began after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1954 that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.

A federal court later ordered Anderson County to desegregate its schools. Two years later, Cain and 11 other students entered Clinton High, becoming the first Black students to integrate a public high school in the South.

Cain’s time at Clinton was far from easy.

He and his classmates endured verbal and physical abuse, thr

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