SEIGENTHALER: And the first night of school desegregation, Hattie Cotton School was bombed. And I remember going out there. My guess is my byline’s on that story the next day. I don’t know – I might have been on the city desk or I might have been just working late. I think it was after midnight. But I remember seeing – going out there, the gigantic lights that had been put on the building. The fire department was out there, police were out there, area was cordoned off.
And I remember looking at school children with their parents – white. The black children were under protection by that time. One black child enrolled in that school.
The principal of that school was the sister of George Cate. She’s dead now. But she was a wonderful teacher. And I remember she said, within a couple of days, to the school board, “This school needs to be ready for occupancy before the end of this year.” And it was.
I remember looking in the faces of children, tears streaming down their faces in awe and shock and hurt by the fact their school had been blown up. And I don’t think there were many people that blamed the black child. Most people blamed the merchants of violence who just did that. And, you know, I think that – it was almost an accident that I was the reporter. And there were probably other reporters out there, too. But I remember it, and certainly there were a number of photographers out there.
But I remember that evening – and I thought it worked against the racists. I thought it worked against the segregationists, because most people in town said, “We don’t want that to happen here.” And I think the reason that you didn’t have a Birmingham or sometimes an Atlanta, or all over Mississippi – the reason you didn’t have that sort of – and Louisiana – the reason you didn’t have that sort of support of violence here was because it was always limited. I mean, people in Nashville recognized – and I don’t know whether it’s more civic pride or better political leadership. Maybe the federal Establishment in Tennessee as a result of TVA.
RAWLS: Maybe a progressive newspaper.
SEIGENTHALER: Maybe a progressive newspaper. That’s right.