TVA Donates $25,000 To Distribute Documentary to Schools, Libraries

January 18, 2008

CLINTON, TENN. – TVA is donating $25,000 to the Green McAdoo Cultural Center and Museum to help the organization and the city of Clinton distribute copies of the award- winning film, The Clinton 12, A Documentary Film, to all schools and libraries in Tennessee. The first of five $5,000 checks, to be donated by TVA over five years, was presented today at the cultural center and museum by TVA Senior Vice President of Corporate Responsibility and Diversity Peyton Hairston. The group attending the presentation ceremony included Clinton City Mayor Wimp Shoopman, Clinton City Manager Steve Jones, the board of Green McAdoo cultural center and museum and Clinton Utilities Manager Greg Fay.

“TVA partnered with Clinton Utilities last year to support the opening of the Green McAdoo Museum commemorating the 50th anniversary of the desegregation of the first high school in the South, and we are pleased to continue our support with this $25,000 donation,” Hairston said. “We commend the leaders of Clinton and the Green McAdoo Cultural Organization for documenting the events surrounding the Clinton High School desegregation and its role in our nation’s civil rights history.”

Hairston said the donation is part of TVA’s celebration of Martin Luther King’s birthday, which is Monday, Jan. 21.

The Clinton 12, A Documentary Film, narrated by award-winning actor James Earl Jones, is scheduled to air nationally on PBS in February. The documentary is a collection of both archived and present-day interviews and film footage that tells the story of the Clinton schools’ desegregation events in 1956.

“The city of Clinton is grateful to TVA for its continuing support of the cultural center and museum and for its generous donation to ensure that this important documentary will become a permanent part of our educational curriculum in Tennessee schools and libraries,” Mayor Shoopman said.

The documentary will be incorporated into the state’s school curriculum being developed by the Green McAdoo Educational Committee, which is made up of nationally renowned educators in East Tennessee. The curriculum is being formulated for several grade levels.

The title of the documentary refers to the 12 black teenagers who integrated the all- white Clinton High School on Aug. 27, 1956. The film includes interviews with 11 of the original Clinton 12 as well as seldom-seen archive footage and interviews with those involved in the events.

Clinton High School was the first public high school in the South to have an African- American graduate.

The documentary has received numerous awards including:

• NPT Human Spirit Award – 2007
• Nashville Film Festival Best Documentary: - 2007
• Sweet Auburn Film Festival Best Documentary – 2007
• Texas Black Film Festival Audience Award for Best Documentary – 2007
• Nashville Film Festival Best Southern Film – 2006
• Asheville Film Festival Best Documentary - 2007
• Southern Fried Flicks Film Festival Best Editing/Documentary – 2007
• Top 10 films in America 2007
• Special Award of Distinction – East Tennessee Historical Society

The 50th anniversary of the events of the 1956 school year was commemorated with the opening of the Green McAdoo Cultural Center and Museum Aug. 26, 2006, at the site of the old Green McAdoo School in Clinton.

Legislation has been introduced in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate designating Green McAdoo as a National Historic Site within the National Park Service. More information is available about the center on the Web at: http://www.greenmcadoo.org

TVA is the nation’s largest public power provider and is completely self-financing. TVA provides power to large industries and 159 power distributors that serve approximately 8.8 million consumers in seven southeastern states. TVA also manages the Tennessee River and its tributaries to provide multiple benefits, including flood damage reduction, navigation, water quality and recreation.

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