When fourteen-year-old Jo Ann Allen and eleven other African American students walk into Clinton High School on an August morning in 1956, they know they are walking into history: they've been told they are the very first students to integrate a public high school in the American South. What they don't know is how treacherous their journey will be. Their eastern Tennessee town is a courteous, yes-ma'am, no-sir kind of place, where blacks and whites seem to get along. But something darker lurks beneath the civility in Clinton, and when outside agitators interfere, local whites' muffled objections turn to unrestrained bigotry and violence. Soon, even the Clinton 12 themseves wonder whether they should just return to their old school. As the desegregation crisis makes headlines across the country, Jo Ann - clear-eyed, practical, tolerant, and popular - finds herself in the spotlight as a spokesperson for the group. But that's not the only life she wants: she also wants to focus on music, friendships, and, of course, her education. This is the heartbreaking and relatable story of an extraordinary trailblazer fighting for civil rights - and for the right to be an ordinary teenager. -- From dust jacket.

Introduction --Mine, theirs, and ours -- Me, myself, and I -- Getting ready (May to August 1956) -- Down the hill (late August to Labor Day) -- Try again (three weeks in September) -- Fear (late September to mid-November) -- Going downhill (mid-November to December) -- Epilogue.