Metro Schools searching for 16 students who desegregated Nashville schools in 1957

Metro Schools is searching for students who were first-graders in 1957. And it needs your help.

Sixty years ago, Nashville desegregated its schools through the brave actions of a small group of first-graders. The students, with heads held high and tiny hands clutched in their parents', walked past protesters hurling spit and curses and threats.

As they entered their classrooms, becoming the first black children among hundreds of white ones, they changed history.

► MORE: The desegregation of Nashville schools — and the bombing that followed 60 years ago

Of this important moment, the archives are sparse. Metro Schools wants to help change that, taking ownership of its own history.

In a yearlong project to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the desegregation of schools, it plans to collect oral histories, create new student lesson plans focused on desegregation, and commission a historical marker.

"We want to capture it, curate it and amplify it for future generations," Metro school board member Will Pinkston said.

As the first step, MNPS hopes to find the 16 students believed to have enrolled as first-graders on the first day of desegregation.

Last month The Tennessean chronicled Sept. 9, 1957, the day Nashville officially desegregated schools, to recognize the 60th anniversary of the historic event and the school bombing that happened that night.

"My parents didn’t make me feel like I was any different," said Joy Kelly Smith, a now 66-year-old actress and director in New York who was one of the first to desegregate schools in Nashville. "I knew I was doing something important, but my first day of school I couldn’t have told you what it was."

Now, it is understood just how important that day was.

Nashville's integration came just days after the group that would be known as the Little Rock Nine bravely broke through racial barriers to become the first black students enrolled at formerly all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Ark.

In Nashville, it was first-graders — not teenagers — who made those first steps.

"It was a courageous moment," Pinkston said.

'Reignite the call to action'

Sixteen students are believed to have enrolled on that very first day; 11 returned the next day and stayed the entire school year.

With the help of those students, who would now all be adults in their 60s, Metro Schools wants to remember and educate.

As the first African-American superintendent of Metro Nashville Public Schools, Shawn Joseph feels it's important for students and the community to understand the history of their schools and to "chart the inequities" faced for generations.

"When we don't know history, we can be extra critical from our middle-class suburban environment," Joseph said. "We want to reignite the call to action to do what was intended for our schools."

To do that, Metro Schools plans to form community partnerships to capture oral histories and curate them in the Civil Rights Room at the downtown library and pursue the creation of a documentary about the event.

It will explore the creation of a historical marker or bas-relief sculpture featuring an iconic image from Sept. 9, 1957, the first day of integration.

Using the oral histories, documentary and other digital tools, Metro Schools also hopes to develop a new lesson plan for fifth-graders that will focus on desegregation of schools.

It also wants to hold a professional development seminar to educate MNPS principals and staff about the history of the school system — with an emphasis on the desegregation era.

"There is such value in commemorating desegregation of schools," Metro school board member Sharon Gentry said, "not only as a moment in time but also as the beginning of the opportunities that we now take for granted."

The 16 students of Nashville desegregation

Metro Nashville Public Schools hopes to find the 16 students who enrolled as first-graders on the first day of desegregation.

If you have information on how to contact these students please send it to Cameo Bobo, board administrator for MNPS. She can be reached at cameo.bobo@mnps.org and 615-259-8487. 

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