NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — More than 65 years ago, a Nashville teacher was there on a sad day in Nashville history. It was the day of a crime never solved. That teacher's now sharing her story, alongside a message of what people should learn from this day long ago.
"Oftentimes, this is not taught," said MaryAnne MacKenzie, sitting in the library of Hattie Cotton STEM Magnet Elementary. "The kids have no idea that this happened."
A lot has changed since 1957 when she was a teacher at the original Hattie Cotton Elementary.
"Right there!" MaryAnne said, pointing to a picture of herself among other teachers in 1957. "I do remember that! You know, I can't walk, but my mind is pretty good!"
MaryAnne also remembers the year before she arrived at Hattie Cotton. Violent protests happened in Clinton, Tennessee during an integration of Black students into a previously all-white school.
"I think they'll get in here, but I don't know how long they'll live when they're in here," a resident told a news crew in Clinton. "They cannot keep the police out here always. I don't think they got any business here to start with."
Knowing what happened in Clinton, MaryAnne feared for the Black students being integrated into Nashville elementary schools in 1957. She followed the leadership of principal Margaret Cate as one six-year-old Black child started at Hattie Cotton Elementary.
"It was a horrible time," MaryAnne remembered. "The protesters came up out of the woodwork. They were all over the front of the building. There were protesters in the street, tires burned in the street. Bottles and cans got thrown at people as they came to register Black students."
MaryAnne got a call at 5 one morning. She was told to come in with the rest of the staff and wait across the street for instructions on what to do next. Something had just happened to the school.
Hattie Cotton Elementary was bombed.
"I cried. I cried," MaryAnne remembered. "I was in tears. I was frantic. I thought it was a terrible scene. Knowing that it happened just shortly after midnight, I knew that nobody had been hurt. It was a long drive because I had to keep control of myself enough to be able to drive here. That child had nothing into all of this except the wish to be a first grader. Having to move away from Nashville and away from the neighborhood she knew, I was just overwhelmed with sadness for her."
Though there was questioning, there was never an arrest in the bombing at Hattie Cotton.
MaryAnne didn't speak of what happened at Hattie Cotton for many years. Now, she has just written a book alongside her husband Stephen MacKenzie. It's called Hattie Cotton School; The last teacher's first-hand experiences of the 1957 bombing and aftermath.
We asked MaryAnne, why now?
"First, I'm going to be 90 years old very shortly," she said. "It was now or never. We better learn cause history repeats itself. If we don't do things in a better way and get along well and realize everybody is due our respect, then we're dead in the water for more years. You don't have to think like everything's always been thought."
MaryAnne's book can be found here.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
