This promise of change : one girl's story in the fight for school equality

Recipient Of A Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Honor Winner Of The 2019 Boston Globe-horn Book Award For Nonfiction A Nypl Top Ten Of 2019 A Kirkus Reviews Best Book Of The Year In 1956, One Year Before Federal Troops Escorted The Little Rock 9 Into Central High School, Fourteen Year Old Jo Ann Allen Was One Of Twelve African-american Students Who Broke The Color Barrier And Integrated Clinton High School In Tennessee. At First Things Went Smoothly For The Clinton 12, But Then Outside Agitators Interfered, Pitting The Townspeople Against One Another. Uneasiness Turned Into Anger, And Even The Clinton Twelve Themselves Wondered If The Easier Thing To Do Would Be To Go Back To Their Old School. Jo Ann--clear-eyed, Practical, Tolerant, And Popular Among Both Black And White Students---found Herself Called On As The Spokesperson Of The Group. But What About Just Being A Regular Teen? This Is The Heartbreaking And Relatable Story Of Her Four Months Thrust Into The National Spotlight And As A Trailblazer In History. Based On Original Research And Interviews And Featuring Backmatter With Archival Materials And Notes From The Authors On The Co-writing Process. When fourteen-year-old Jo Ann Allen and eleven other African American students walk into Clinton High School on an August morning in 1956, they know they are walking into history: they've been told they are the very first students to integrate a public high school in the American South. What they don't know is how treacherous their journey will be. Their eastern Tennessee town is a courteous, yes-ma'am, no-sir kind of place, where blacks and whites seem to get along. But something darker lurks beneath the civility in Clinton, and when outside agitators interfere, local whites' muffled objections turn to unrestrained bigotry and violence. Soon, even the Clinton 12 themseves wonder whether they should just return to their old school. As the desegregation crisis makes headlines across the country, Jo Ann - clear-eyed, practical, tolerant, and popular - finds herself in the spotlight as a spokesperson for the group. But that's not the only life she wants: she also wants to focus on music, friendships, and, of course, her education. This is the heartbreaking and relatable story of an extraordinary trailblazer fighting for civil rights - and for the right to be an ordinary teenager. -- From dust jacket "In 1956, one year before federal troops escorted the Little Rock 9 into Central High School, fourteen year old Jo Ann Allen was one of twelve African-American students who broke the color barrier and integrated Clinton High School in Tennessee. At first things went smoothly for the Clinton 12, but then outside agitators interfered, pitting the townspeople against one another. Uneasiness turned into anger, and even the Clinton Twelve themselves wondered if the easier thing to do would be to go back to their old school. Jo Ann--clear-eyed, practical, tolerant, and popular among both black and white students--found herself called on as the spokesperson of the group. But what about just being a regular teen? This is the heartbreaking and relatable story of her four months thrust into the national spotlight and as a trailblazer in history. Based on original research and interviews and featuring backmatter with archival materials and notes from the authors on the co-writing process"-- Provided by publisher