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McGruder Social Practice Artist Residency

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Northerner John Kasper, leader of a White Citizen’s Council and a staunch segregationist, came to Nashville and spoke to a crowd of white protesters in front of Glenn Elementary School. September 1957. Photo by Bob Ray. Nashville Banner Archives, Nashville Public Library, Special Collections

Although local officials vowed to uphold the law and protect the students, some people passionately protested the plan to desegregate the public schools. September 1957. Photo by Paul Schleicher. Nashville Banner Archives, Nashville Public Library, Special Collections

Harry Robb of Chapel Avenue shows a letter his family received from a Ku Klux Klan member a week after his granddaughter, Era May Bailey, was to enroll in the all-white Bailey School. The letter threatened a cross-burning if the family did not move. September 10, 1957. Photo by Bill Preston. Courtesy of The Tennessean

Parents on the first day of desegregation at Glenn Elementary School in East Nashville. September 9, 1957. Photo by Bob Ray. Nashville Banner Archives, Nashville Public Library, Special Collections

Harold D. Street walks his daughter Lajuanda (right) and her friend, Jacqueline Griffith (left), to Glenn Elementary School. September 9, 1957. Photo by Bob Ray. Nashville Banner Archives, Nashville Public Library, Special Collections

Erroll Groves (center) holds the hand of his mother, Iridell Groves, as they walk to Buena Vista School on the first day of desegregation in Nashville’s public schools. September 9, 1957. Photo by Eldred Reaney. Courtesy of The Tennessean

Erroll Groves (left) sat with his new classmates during class at Buena Vista School on the first day of desegregation in Nashville’s schools. Groves was one of three black children who went to the school that day. September 9, 1957. Photo by Eldred Reaney. Courtesy of The Tennessean

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Linda McKinley and Charles Elbert Ridley were the only first-graders at Fehr Elementary School in North Nashville on the day after the bombing of Hattie Cotton Elementary School. September 10, 1957. Photo by Bill Goodman. Nashville Banner Archives, Nashville Public Library, Special Collections

A perplexed little boy surveyed the damage done to Hattie Cotton School by dynamite. September 10, 1957. Photo by Bill Preston. Courtesy of The Tennessean

On September 10, 1957, a crowd gathered near Hattie Cotton School after its east wing was bombed. Photo by Paul Schleicher. Nashville Banner Archives, Nashville Public Library, Special Collections

The first large-scale organized sit-in took place in Nashville on February 13, 1960, when more than one hundred protesters from four local historically black colleges converged on downtown lunch counters, including McLellan’s (seen here). Photo by Bill Goodman. Nashville Banner Archives, Nashville Public Library, Special Collections

Several men attempt to drag a nonviolent student sit-in demonstrator from his stool at the lunch counter in the upstairs section of Woolworth’s on Fifth Avenue North. February 27, 1960. Photo by Vic Cooley. Nashville Banner Archives, Nashville Public Library, Special Collections

Four Nashville policemen arrive at First Baptist Church, Capitol Hill, to arrest James Lawson. He was expelled from Vanderbilt University for his participation in the sit-ins. March 4, 1960. Photo by Vic Cooley. Nashville Banner Archives, Nashville Public Library, Special Collections

Jean Wynona Fleming, a Fisk University student, behind bars in a Nashville city jail after her arrest at a downtown Moon-McGrath drugstore lunch counter. March 25, 1960. Photo by Jimmy Ellis. Courtesy of The Tennessean

Officials and neighbors observed the damage to the house of Z. Alexander Looby, a civil rights attorney and Nashville City Council member. Mr. and Mrs. Looby survived the early dawn bombing, though it destroyed their home. April 19, 1960. Photo by Bob Ray. Nashville Banner Archives, Nashville Public Library, Special Collections

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