Information from WYSH Radio
The Clinton City Council on Monday unanimously approved a resolution to transfer the Green McAdoo Cultural Center and Museum to the Tennessee State Museum, a move officials said will ensure that the facility remains open to tell the story of the first black students to attend a previously all-white, Southern, public high school in 1956.
The state budget passed earlier this year included $100,000 to be used exclusively for maintenance and operational expenses at the museum, located on School Street. The museum opened in 2006, on the 50th anniversary of the day in 1956 when 12 black students walked from the former Green McAdoo School down the hill to Clinton High School and into history. Green McAdoo was, at the time, the school for black students in Clinton.
In the past, some city leaders expressed concern that the museum might become too much of a burden for the city to maintain and operate alone, but the move by the state to take over Green McAdoo means that it will remain open, chronicling not only an important piece of Tennesssee history, but American history as well.
The resolution passed this week includes the authorization of a property transfer deed giving the property to the state, which will reimburse the city or the Green McAdoo Cultural Organization for any and all expenses dealing with the day-to-day operation of the museum.
WYSH Radio in Clinton is an Oak Ridge Today news partner.
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