A book about the desegregation of Clinton schools won the Tennessee History Book Award for 2023.
The book is “A Most Tolerant Little Town: The Explosive Beginning of School Desegregation.” It was written by Rachel Louise Martin, a historian and writer, a press release said.
The award was announced by the Tennessee Historical Commission and the Tennessee Historical Society. The award prize includes $2,000.
“Set in Clinton, Tennessee, in September 1956, the book describes the first school to attempt court-ordered desegregation in the wake of Brown v. Board (which found racial segregation in public schools to be unconstitutional),” the press release said. “The author interviewed over 60 townsfolk, including nearly a dozen of the first students to desegregate Clinton High. Judged by a panel of four historians from across Tennessee’s Grand Divisions, two other books were finalists for the prize: ‘Who is James K. Polk? The Presidential Election of 1844’ by Mark Cheathem and ‘The Civil War Letters of Sarah Kennedy’ by Minoa D. Uffelman.”
The award program received a record number of submissions for the 2023 publication year. “We are delighted to partner with the Tennessee Historical Society on this longstanding annual award program that highlights works centering on Tennessee History,” said Patrick McIntyre, Tennessee Historical Commission executive director.
“The Tennessee Historical Society is pleased that this important story is being told through this comprehensive work,” said Tennessee Historical Society Executive Director Jennifer Core. “Rachel Martin’s riveting and complex tale of the civil rights movement in Tennessee provides a new perspective on desegregation.”
Martin, the winning author, is a historian and writer who lives in Nashville and whose work has appeared in the Atlantic and Oxford American, among other publications, the press release said. She is the author of “Hot, Hot Chicken,” a cultural history of Nashville hot chicken, and “A Most Tolerant Little Town,” the forgotten story of the first school to attempt court-mandated desegregation in the wake of Brown v. Board.
“Martin is especially interested by the politics of memory and the power of stories to illuminate why injustice persists in America today,” the press release said.
Additional information about the Award and nomination forms can be found on the Tennessee Historical Society website. For more information about the Tennessee Historical Commission, visit the website.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
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