High school senior Bobby Cain walks into Clinton High School on August 29, 1956 (Library of Congress photo)
Bobby Cain died on Monday, September 22, 2025, his family confirmed.
Sixty-nine years ago, when Cain led 12 other Black students into Clinton High School, it made national news.
Bobby Cain on stage with TN History for Kids founder Bill Carey at the tent revival event in Franklin on July 24, 2017
He later told a crowd of about 300 teachers at a Tennessee History for Kids event in Franklin how it felt to be one of the first African-American students in an integrated public high school in Tennessee.
“It was tough,” he said. “I didn’t want to leave all my friends at Austin High School [in Knoxville]. I was a senior, and knew I was missing my senior year of playing on the football team.”
“Almost none of the white students were friendly to me at the beginning of the year. Everyone knew that the protestors were there because of us [meaning the other Black students]. But going to Clinton High wasn’t our idea — the U.S. Supreme Court ordered it.”
This image of Bobby Cain reading by himself in class was published by the Nashville Banner on Sept. 4, 1956
“My senior year of high school was just something I just had to get through.”
When Cain graduated from Clinton HIgh in May 1957, it was reported in newspapers as far away as Oregon.
The next year, he attended Tennessee State University and went onto a career at the Tennessee Department of Human Services. He was also in the United States Army Reserve.
His wife Margo (Harland) Cain later became a teacher, coach and assistant principal in Metro Nashville Public Schools.
Bobby Cain poses for photos with teachers at the July 2017 TN History for Kids tent revival in Franklin
Over the years, there was renewed interest in the role that Bobby and other members of the “Clinton 12” played in integrating public schools in South.
At first, Bobby Cain was reluctant to discuss the topic. But eventually, as the Green-McAdoo Center in Clinton came into being, he opened up about what he went through.
On the day he appeared on stage at a Tennessee History for Kids “tent revival” event, Nashville Public Radio produced this story about him.
A few weeks later, Bill Carey at
Tennessee Magazine came out with
this article about him.
In his retirement, Bobby Cain enjoyed attending Tennessee State football and basketball games and his grandson’s high school basketball games.
The Bobby Cain trading card
A few years ago, Tennessee History for Kids produced 23 Tennessee History hero trading cards — honoring people such as Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, Alvin York and Wilma Rudolph.
Other than Dolly Parton, Bobby Cain was the only living Tennessean honored with one of these trading cards.
