Diane Nash facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Diane Nash
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Nash in 2014
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Diane Nash
May 15, 1938 |
| Education | Howard University Fisk University (BA) |
| Organization | Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee |
| Television | Eyes on the Prize A Force More Powerful Freedom Riders |
| Movement | Civil Rights Movement |
| Spouse(s) | |
| Children | 2 |
| Awards | Presidential Medal of Freedom (2022) Freedom Award |
Diane Judith Nash (born May 15, 1938) is an American hero of the Civil Rights Movement. As a student, she became a leader and planner for many of the most important protests of the era.
Nash's work helped change America. She led the first successful campaign to end segregation at lunch counters in Nashville, Tennessee. She also organized the Freedom Riders, who fought to desegregate bus travel between states. Nash co-founded the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), a group of young activists. Her work on the Selma Voting Rights Movement helped lead to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This law protected the right of all Americans to vote.
In July 2022, President Joe Biden awarded Nash the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the highest honors for a civilian in the United States.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Diane Nash was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1938. She was raised in a middle-class Catholic family. Her grandmother, Carrie Bolton, was a major influence in her life. She taught Diane to be confident and to understand her own value.
Nash attended Catholic schools and even thought about becoming a nun. After high school, she went to Howard University in Washington, D.C., and then transferred to Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee.
In Nashville, Nash experienced the full force of Jim Crow laws for the first time. These laws enforced racial segregation, which meant Black people were treated unfairly and kept separate from white people. For example, she was shocked when she had to use a "Colored Women" restroom at the Tennessee State Fair. This experience made her determined to fight against segregation.
Leading the Civil Rights Movement
At Fisk University, Nash began attending workshops on nonviolent protest led by James Lawson. Lawson had studied the peaceful methods of Mahatma Gandhi. Nash learned how to challenge unfair laws without using violence. She quickly became a leader because she was a calm and powerful speaker.
The Nashville Sit-Ins
In 1960, at age 22, Nash became the leader of the Nashville sit-ins. These were protests where Black students would sit at "whites-only" lunch counters and politely ask to be served. They knew they would be refused service, yelled at, and even arrested.
The students followed the principles of nonviolence, meaning they never fought back. Nash and other students, including John Lewis, chose to go to jail instead of paying bail money. They believed paying the fines would be like supporting the unjust system of segregation.
The sit-ins worked. After months of protests, Nash publicly asked Nashville's mayor, Ben West, if he thought it was wrong to discriminate against people based on their skin color. The mayor admitted that he did. Three weeks later, Nashville's lunch counters began serving Black customers.
Founding SNCC
In April 1960, Nash helped create the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). SNCC was a group of young activists who organized many important protests during the Civil Rights Movement. It was special because it was led by students, giving a powerful voice to young people.
Nash was arrested many times for her activism. In 1962, while pregnant, she was sentenced to two years in prison for encouraging young people to become Freedom Riders. She was willing to go to jail, saying, "I believe that if I go to jail now, it may help hasten that day when my child and all children will be free."
The Freedom Rides
In 1961, a group called the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) started the Freedom Rides. Activists, both Black and white, rode interstate buses into the South to challenge segregation laws. The rides were extremely dangerous. One bus was firebombed, and riders were brutally attacked by angry mobs.
When CORE decided to stop the rides because of the violence, Nash refused to let the movement die. She argued, "We can't let them stop us with violence. If we do, the movement is dead." She took over, recruited more student volunteers from Nashville, and organized the rest of the Freedom Rides.
She coordinated with government officials like Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to try to get protection for the riders. When an official warned her that someone could be killed, she replied, "We know someone will be killed, but we cannot let violence overcome nonviolence." Thanks to Nash's courage, the Freedom Rides continued and successfully challenged segregation in interstate travel.
Selma Voting Rights Movement
In 1963, a church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, killed four young Black girls. This tragedy motivated Nash and her then-husband, James Bevel, to focus on securing voting rights for every Black adult in Alabama. At the time, unfair laws and practices prevented most Black citizens from voting.
They organized a series of marches from Selma to the state capital of Montgomery in 1965. During one march, protesters were violently attacked by police on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The event, known as "Bloody Sunday," was shown on national television and shocked the country.
The public outcry helped President Lyndon Johnson pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This landmark law made it illegal to deny any citizen the right to vote based on their race. For their leadership, Nash and Bevel received the Rosa Parks Award from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).
Later Life and Legacy
After the Civil Rights Movement, Diane Nash moved back to Chicago. She continued to work for social justice, including fair housing and anti-war movements.
For many years, the male leaders of the Civil Rights Movement received most of the credit. However, historians now recognize Nash as one of its most important and fearless leaders. Historian David Halberstam called her "bright, focused, utterly fearless, with an unerring instinct for the correct tactical move."
Nash has received many awards for her work. In 2022, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Joe Biden. A plaza in front of the Nashville courthouse, where she famously confronted the mayor, was named the Diane Nash Plaza in her honor.
Today, Nash continues to believe in the power of nonviolence. She remains humble about her role, saying, "It took many thousands of people to make the changes that we made, people whose names we'll never know... I remember them."
Personal Life
Diane Nash met James Bevel while they were both student protesters in Nashville. They married in 1961 and had two children, a son and a daughter. They divorced after seven years.
See also
