I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 453 
To direct the Secretary of the Interior to study the suitability and feasibility 
of designating Green McAdoo School in Clinton, Tennessee as a unit 
of the National Park System, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 9, 2009 
Mr. WAMP (for himself and Mr. LEWIS of Georgia) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To direct the Secretary of the Interior to study the suitability 
and feasibility of designating Green McAdoo School in 
Clinton, Tennessee as a unit of the National Park Sys-
tem, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Green McAdoo School 
National Historic Site Study Act of 2009’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds as follows: 
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(1) The formerly segregated all-black Green 
McAdoo School and all-white Clinton High School, 
both located in Clinton, Tennessee, played a vital 
role in the school desegregation crisis that preceded 
and followed the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown 
v. Board of Education in 1954. 
(2) Green McAdoo School opened as the Clinton 
Colored School in 1935 and was renamed in 1947 
to honor Green McAdoo, a buffalo soldier who once 
owned the land upon which it was built. 
(3) In 1950, the parents of 5 Clinton, Ten-
nessee, children filed a lawsuit to gain entrance into 
Clinton High School. At the time, Tennessee and 
Anderson County law required the segregation of 
secondary schools. The case became known as 
McSwain v. Anderson County. 
(4) The case was dismissed by the Federal Dis-
trict Court under the ‘‘separate but equal’’ doctrine; 
the case was appealed by the parents, but suspended 
pending a Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board 
of Education. 
(5) Following the Supreme Court’s decision in 
Brown v. Board of Education which abolished the 
‘‘separate but equal’’ doctrine, the Federal District 
Court in Tennessee issued an order on January 4, 
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1956, requiring desegregation of Anderson County 
schools no later than the fall term, 1956. 
(6) On August 25, 1956, 12 students from 
Green McAdoo School met at the school before walk-
ing together to the all-white Clinton High School to 
become the first African-American students to effect 
the integration of a southern, state operated school. 
(7) On September 1, 1956, Clinton, Tennessee 
became the first southern town to be occupied by 
National Guard troops in an effort to quell violence 
sparked by protestors from all over the United 
States who were opposed to school integration. 
(8) In 1957, Bobby Cain, a former Green 
McAdoo student, became the first African-American 
to earn a diploma from an integrated school fol-
lowing the Brown v. Board of Education ruling. 
(9) In 1958, the newly integrated Clinton High 
School was destroyed by dynamite that most as-
sumed was placed by segregationists. The commu-
nity had the students back in school in four days at 
an abandoned elementary school in neighboring Oak 
Ridge, Tennessee. Anderson County rebuilt Clinton 
High School and it and Green McAdoo School are 
the only remaining schools associated with the Clin-
ton desegregation crisis. 
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SEC. 3. STUDY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Interior shall 
conduct a study of the site of Green McAdoo School in 
Clinton, Tennessee, to evaluate the national significance, 
suitability, and feasibility of designating the site as a unit 
of the National Park System. 
(b) CRITERIA.—In conducting the study authorized 
by this Act, the Secretary shall use the criteria for the 
study of areas for potential inclusion in the National Park 
System contained in section 8 of Public Law 91–383 (16 
U.S.C. 1a–5). 
(c) CONTENTS.—The study authorized by this Act 
shall— 
(1) determine the suitability and feasibility of 
designating the site as a unit of the National Park 
System; 
(2) include cost estimates for any necessary ac-
quisition, development, operation, and maintenance 
of the site; and 
(3) identify alternatives for the management, 
administration, and protection of the area. 
(d) REPORT.—Not later than 3 years after the date 
on which funds are made available for the study, the Sec-
retary shall submit to the Committee on Natural Re-
sources of the House of Representatives and the Com-
mittee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate 
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a report on the findings, conclusions, and recommenda-
tions of the study. 
Æ 
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