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'Inspired Everyone She Met' | Jo Ann Crozier Allen Boyce, Member of the 'Clinton 12,' Dies at 84

Jo Ann Allen Boyce was one of the Clinton 12 who faced violent opposition to integrate Clinton High School in 1956, inspiring many through her lifelong advocacy.

  • Dec. 3, Jo Ann Crozier Allen Boyce died at 84 at her Los Angeles home, her daughter Kamlyn Young confirmed after a decade-long battle with pancreatic cancer.
  • Court orders in January 1956 forced Clinton High School to admit Black students, and on Aug. 26, 1956, Boyce and 11 classmates desegregated it amid protests joined by Ku Klux Klan members that closed the school and led to National Guard protection.
  • As a 14-year-old, Boyce was excited yet worried about clothes and friends, stayed at Clinton High School for five months as homeroom vice president, then left after her December 1956 move to California.
  • The Green McAdoo Cultural Center posted Thursday, `We've lost such a caring and humble soul,' and Adam Velk said she was one of the kindest people I have ever met; Boyce is the third Clinton 12 member to die in 2025 and is survived by sister Mamie Hubbard, three children, and three grandchildren.
  • Her role as one of the Clinton 12 positions Boyce among early Civil Rights figures, and she spent years speaking to young students and co-wrote This Promise of Change while practicing forgiveness; `For me, it would become an unfinished journey,' Boyce wrote.
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21 Articles

Pittsburgh Post-GazettePittsburgh Post-Gazette
Center

Jo Ann Allen Boyce, who wrote a book about her experience integrating Clinton High School, dies at 84

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Jo Ann Allen Boyce, who as part of the “Clinton 12” helped integrate one of the first public schools in the South,...

·Pittsburgh, United States
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Associated Press NewsAssociated Press News
+15 Reposted by 15 other sources
Lean Left

Jo Ann Allen Boyce, who wrote a book about her experience integrating Clinton High School, has died

Jo Ann Allen Boyce, who helped integrate one of the first public schools in the South, has died at 84.

·United States
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Knox NewsKnox News
Center

Clinton 12 member Jo Ann Crozier Allen Boyce has died at age 84

"Jo Ann was someone who was so generous with her own story and shared it with people across the country."

·Nashville, United States
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WATEWATE
Center

Jo Ann Allen Boyce, member of the Clinton 12, dies at age 84

CLINTON, Tenn. (WATE) — Jo Ann Crozier Allen Boyce, a member of the Clinton 12 who desegregated the first public high school in the South, has died at the age of 84, the Green McAdoo Cultural Cente…

·Nashville, United States
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Local MemphisLocal Memphis
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WBIRWBIR
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'Inspired everyone she met' | Jo Ann Crozier Allen Boyce, member of the 'Clinton 12,' dies at 84

Jo Ann Crozier Allen Boyce, a trailblazer of the Clinton 12, passed at 84, leaving a legacy of courage in desegregating Tennessee amidst racial hostility in the 50s.

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U.S. News broke the news in New York, United States on Thursday, December 4, 2025.
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