East Nashville Magnet High School

East High School first opened in 1932, and the adjacent Junior High School was built five years later in 1937. Both schools served only white students during the era of Jim Crow, but in 1955 East High became an early test case for school desegregation in Nashville after Brown v. Board of Education.

A lot of people don’t realize that there were two separate decisions related to Brown v. Board. The 1954 decision struck down the doctrine of “separate but equal” and called for the desegregation of public schools across the country. After the ruling, two prominent African American lawyers in Nashville—Z. Alexander Looby and Avon N. Williams Jr. —unsucessfully petitioned the board of education to desegregate. Then, in 1955, a second Supreme Court decision added that schools should desegregate “with all deliberate speed,” which prompted 14-year-old Robert W. Kelley to enroll at East High School, but Robert was turned away. 

Soon after Robert’s father, A.Z. Kelley, agreed to be the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit. Represented by Looby, Williams, and future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, they sued the city school system on behalf of Kelley and 20 other students. In December, the suit was amended to include two white children who had been refused admission to schools in predominantly African American neighborhoods. In 1957, the school board finally released the “Nashville Plan.” The plan called for schools to integrate one grade-per-year, which meant the process would take 12 years to fully integrate. People on both sides of the issue found this approach unacceptable; however, opponents of desegregation ultimately turned to violence and destruction.

Just down the road, Hattie Cotton Elementary School was one of six elementary schools set to admit African American students in 1957. Hattie Cotton was added to the list at the last minute, so on the first day of school, 19 African American first-graders were enrolled without incident. But news spread quickly, and by the noon-dismissal, several carloads of white segregationists lined the driveway to protest and harass Black students and parents. Six-year-old Patricia Watson’s mother was, in fact, too afraid to pick up her daughter. So, the principal, Margaret Randolph Cate, drove her home. 

That night, white extremists bombed the school, destroying the library and several classrooms. It was determined that approximately 100 sticks of dynamite were used. Principal Cate received a phone call early the next morning. She told police the caller said, “Well, now you won't be carrying the little negro home anymore!" No one was ever charged or convicted in this act of violence, and the identities of the bombers remain unknown.

East High finally desegregated in the late 1960s as a part of the “Nashville Plan.” One of the school’s earliest Black graduates became its most famous alum—media mogul Oprah Winfrey. Oprah was a part of the Class of 1971. East High became a magnet school in 1993 and the school’s name was changed to East Nashville Magnet High School in 2012. The building features Egyptian and Romanesque architectural styles. The school’s mascot—the Eagles—is inspired by stone eagles that “stand guard over the entrance.” For more on this area, take the East Nashville walking tour on Nashville Sites. 

Follow North 10th St. and turn RIGHT back onto Main St. Drive about 1 mile until you reach Spring Street, just before you get to the bridge to downtown. Turn RIGHT and keep to the left to follow Spring Street for a half mile. Just before the on ramps to the interstate, turn RIGHT onto Dickerson Pike. Look out for the statues of bison on Dickerson Pike. The Bison represents Nashville’s early history and natural sulphur springs located near this area. Continue 1.3 miles, then turn LEFT onto Fern Ave. After crossing over the interstate, turn LEFT onto Baptist World Center Dr. Your next stop, American Baptist College, is about one mile ahead on your left. Enter through the gates and check in with security before exploring these grounds.