At nearby Fehr Elementary, other first graders were met with even more hostility. When Grace McKinley walked her daughter and friend to their first day of school at Fehr Elementary, they were surrounded by a mob of about 200 segregationists and several Ku Klux Klan members.
They made it safely and finished their first day. But the mob was more hostile when Grace returned at the end of school to take them home. Several fights broke out. A white woman threw a bottle at Grace. Grace pulled out a knife from her dress pocket to scare her. Both were arrested and released later.
That night, someone broke into Grace’s backyard and set a chicken coop on fire. The McKinley family only lived one block from Fehr Elementary and had been followed home.
Grace refused to unenroll her daughter from Fehr Elementary. When asked by reporters from The Tennessean why she was doing it, Grace said, quote, “I feel deep down that what I am doing is the right thing and nobody can change my mind.”