CLINTON, Tennessee — On a Sunday morning 65 years ago, Clinton High School was destroyed by dynamite.
"It really took something out of us for somebody to do something like that," Alfred Williams, a member of the Clinton 12, told WBIR in a 2008 interview. Williams passed away in 2019.
In 1956, Williams was one of 12 Black students who walked into Clinton High School, an all-white school, to better their education. Those brave teenagers are known today as the Clinton 12.
"We had to face the hostile crowd going to school," Williams explained.
On Oct. 5, 1958, roughly 100 sticks of dynamite were set off inside Clinton High School, destroying the building.
To this day, no one has been arrested.
"Back in '58, when the bombing happened, investigative tools were not what they are today," explained Anderson County Sheriff Russell Barker.
Barker said from on-the-ground training to technological advancements like cell phone tracking, bombing investigations are much more sophisticated now.
"Just in the 23 years I've been a police officer, things have changed dramatically," Barker said.
Dramatic changes were felt in more ways than one after the bombing.
Within three days, people from Clinton and Oak Ridge came together to transform the once-abandoned Linden Elementary School into a welcoming one.
"It's very easy to focus on the bad that's happening. It's a little bit harder to recognize so many people around who are trying to do good," Green McAdoo Cultural Center director Adam Velk said.
Green McAdoo Cultural Center opened in 2006 and is dedicated to honoring the legacy of the Clinton 12.
When recalling the bombing, Velk said he hopes people look beyond the blast. He encourages East Tennesseans to recognize that out of destruction came hope and unity.
"We need to recognize that that happened, but see the good that came from it, see how people responded—because the response I believe is louder than the bombing and in and of itself."