She had arrived in Knoxville in 1870 with the goal of helping to educate African American children, who at the time were schooled in church basements, lodge halls, and one-room schoolhouses scattered throughout the area.

She succeeded in raising $6,500, which was matched by $2,000 from the Knoxville Board of Education to start Austin High School.

[3] Edenton, North Carolina, native John W. Manning became school principal in 1881, the first black person to hold that position.

[3] In 1916, Austin High School left its initial location on Central Street in Knoxville to move to a new building on Payne Avenue.

[3] In 1952 Austin moved to a new modern building one block from its previous location, remaining there until its merger with East High School.

[9] In spite of the magnet program, which was intended to boost white enrollment, as of 2008-2009 more than 80% of Austin-East's students were African American.

After several years of failing to meet performance benchmarks set under the No Child Left Behind Act, in 2008-2009 the school was reorganized into small learning communities.

Another police officer was wounded by a friendly fire shot, that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation originally incorrectly blamed on Thompson.

[17] The students have been staging daily walkouts at 3:15 p.m. to mark the approximate time of Thompson's death and demand police reform.

[24] On May 14 the DA announced that a local man, Kelvon Foster, 21, had been charged in state court with illegally providing a gun to Anthony Thompson.