The Nashville Plan | The Citizenship Project

The City of Nashville implemented its plan for school desegregation in 1957. Under the plan, desegregation would begin with the first grade and advance to the next grade each following year until all twelve grade levels were integrated. On the first day of school, Black students faced hundreds of white protesters outraged by the prospect of integration. Just after midnight, a bomb destroyed an entire wing of Hattie Cotton Elementary School in Nashville. Despite the chilling message, Nashville forged ahead with its desegregation plan.