Anti-integration campaigners from inside and outside Clinton protested the decision to integrate the school. They were inspired by New Jersey white supremacist John Kasper and Asa Carter both of whom spoke publicly in Clinton on September 1, 1956 against the decision to integrate the high school. After violence was narrowly averted on the lawn of the Anderson County Courthouse on September 1, National Guard troops were called into the city for two months to keep order. The protests resulted in a jury trial for criminal contempt, of which seven of ten defendants were convicted.