No Man is Above the Law

Preparing for an oral history of Anderson Country Tennessee, Rachel Martin was struck to find no mention of the tumultuous battle to desegregate Clinton High School in her university archives. In A Most Tolerant Little Town, she explains how everyone came to ‘forget’ about the fight in the summer of 1956 that preceded the more well known integration of Little Rock’s Central High School. Martin’s retelling highlights the role of a Federal judge, a Principal and a Pastor, all white, who put respect for the law above their personal beliefs, at great personal peril.

At a time when political polarization leads some to believe the situation is so desperate that the ends justify the means, Martin’s history is as timely and important as it was six decades ago. My review, for Education Next, is here