This Promise of Change: Part 7–Epilogue

by Jo Ann Allen Boyce, Debbie Levy
In this autobiographical work, Jo Ann Allen Boyce recounts her experience of being one of the first Black children to integrate a public high school in Clinton, Tennessee, following desegregation in the late 1950s.


Here are links to our lists for the book: Introduction–Part 2, Parts 3–4, Parts 5–6, Part 7–Epilogue
40 words 9 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. crude
    conspicuously and tastelessly indecent
    When Regina sits in study hall
    surrounded by 150 white kids, and
    so many of them hiss
    so many crude insults at her
    that she gets up and leaves the room
  2. beseech
    ask for or request earnestly
    Over offered prayer,
    did they beseech God
    and prepare to
    besmirch us?
  3. besmirch
    charge falsely or with malicious intent
    Over offered prayer,
    did they beseech God
    and prepare to
    besmirch us?
  4. smite
    cause physical pain or suffering in
    “In Jesus’s name,"
    did they smear our names
    and scheme to
    smite us?
  5. incite
    provoke or stir up
    John Kasper was found not guilty
    by an all-white jury of his peers
    of charges that he incited the August riot.
  6. scrawl
    write carelessly
    The threats.
    The scrawled, wicked notes.
    Ink dumped into our lockers.
  7. incensed
    angered at something unjust or wrong
    ...the school board has a huddle
    where they discuss the goings-on
    at Clinton High—the trouble,
    the threatening, revolting taunts,
    the violence against
    us Negro students—in the face of law!
    Are they incensed?
  8. idle
    silly or trivial
    At first, all quiet,
    save some birds, our steps, and idle chatter.
  9. heed
    pay close attention to
    They’re throwing eggs, they’re throwing rocks,
    whizzing by our heads,
    but we don’t turn—we will not heed—
    our eyes are straight ahead.
  10. nicety
    conformity with some standard of correctness or propriety
    It’s hard to think of niceties
    like good-bye and thank you
    when you’re marching through a minefield.
  11. scuffle
    fight or struggle in a confused way at close quarters
    We are safe inside until we aren’t,
    because a group of kids
    who aren’t even students here
    break into school
    scuffle with Mrs. Brittain
    push her hard into the wall
  12. maul
    injure badly
    Was there no warning
    this morning

    that thugs would maul
    Reverend Paul?
  13. demented
    affected with madness or insanity
    Could police have prevented
    this demented

    assault on a pastor,
    avoided disaster,
    gotten there faster?
  14. gawk
    look with amazement
    These people aren’t all talk,
    they don’t just gawk,
    these people stalk
  15. doggedness
    persistent determination
    In her dark eyes,
    there’s that doggedness of hers,
    which comes from her aunt Mattie Bell,
    which says she may have been “sick” this time,
    but next time she’ll be healthy
    and stubborn and standing tall
  16. contempt
    disrespect for the authority of a court or legislative body
    Bring them to jail, the judge says,
    then to me
    to be charged with this crime:
    Contempt of a Court Order.
  17. noxious
    injurious to physical or mental health
    Contempt
    has been floating around Clinton,
    a noxious air
    inhaled and exhaled
    willfully,
    reluctantly,
    obliviously
  18. oblivious
    lacking conscious awareness of
    Contempt
    has been floating around Clinton,
    a noxious air
    inhaled and exhaled
    willfully,
    reluctantly,
    obliviously
  19. municipal
    of or relating to the government of a district
    “The tremendous defeat of the White Citizens Council’s efforts to elect candidates in Tuesday’s municipal election should end the political activity of that group and in addition should give notice to the law enforcement groups how the people of Clinton feel about maintaining law and order.”
  20. pessimism
    a general disposition to expect the worst in all things
    An outbreak of pessimism about what’s possible
    here in Clinton.
  21. heckle
    challenge aggressively
    I accompanied the Negro students to school
    to try to let my presence be testimony
    that as long as the law is what it is
    and as long as they have a desire to go to the school,
    it is their moral right to come unheckled and unhindered.
  22. bleak
    offering little or no hope
    ...here the future’s bleak
    when progress made becomes so soon undone.
  23. vile
    morally reprehensible
    Those mobs, she says, so vile and uncontrolled
    have threatened to destroy the life we’ve built.
  24. fray
    a noisy fight
    I know the fear my mother felt
    to send me off to school into the fray.
  25. grim
    harshly uninviting or formidable in manner or appearance
    To see me play the hand that we were dealt,
    grim games with rules that change from day to day.
  26. convene
    call together
    Principal Brittain convened a school-wide assembly in which the Anderson County Attorney read a court order to the somber students.
  27. somber
    serious and gloomy in character
    Principal Brittain convened a school-wide assembly in which the Anderson County Attorney read a court order to the somber students.
  28. frank
    characterized by directness in manner or speech
    I can frankly say that I’ve suffered nothing but personal harassment, and other people [have] too.
  29. animosity
    a feeling of ill will arousing active hostility
    The remaining black students—and the new ones who enrolled—continued to face racist animosity.
  30. malcontent
    a person who is unsatisfied or disgusted
    If anti-integration malcontents and white supremacists thought they could blow up desegregation in Clinton, they were wrong.
  31. renowned
    widely known and esteemed
    Renowned evangelist Reverend Billy Graham came to Clinton, preaching to a packed audience on the need for racial peace, and supporting fundraising efforts for rebuilding.
  32. hail
    praise loudly and forcefully
    In Los Angeles, Jo Ann appeared onstage with baseball legend Jackie Robinson, where they were both hailed as heroes of the civil rights movement.
  33. venue
    the scene of any event or action
    Jo Ann also continued singing, performing R & B and jazz in venues around Los Angeles.
  34. empathy
    understanding and entering into another's feelings
    Four years on, the events remained uppermost in the mind of Margaret Anderson, the teacher who offered so much support and empathy to Jo Ann and other members of the Clinton 12.
  35. insurrection
    organized opposition to authority
    In a cover story for the New York Times Magazine, Mrs. Anderson wrote of “mob violence in the town and an almost complete state of insurrection within the school.”
  36. consequential
    having important effects or results
    These events, so consequential in civil rights history and so widely known in their day, became lost to most Americans.
  37. ardent
    characterized by strong enthusiasm
    That is, while the Clinton crisis definitely featured ardent white segregationists and white supremacists, it also included white local leaders who, however reluctantly, decided to follow the law after Brown v. Board of Education.
  38. ordeal
    a severe or trying experience
    The Clinton 12 heard this as they went through their ordeal, and afterward.
  39. backlash
    an adverse reaction to some political or social occurrence
    How has this milestone escaped notice? Perhaps because of this: the town leaders kept the desegregation plans secret in an effort to limit public (white) backlash.
  40. predominantly
    much greater in number or influence
    “I lived in a predominantly white neighborhood. I played with little white kids,” Gail described her childhood in Clinton in a 2017 interview.
Created on Tue Apr 19 09:28:23 EDT 2022 (updated Mon Apr 25 13:24:36 EDT 2022)

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