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 civil rights activist. She was a key leader and planner for the student part of the Civil Rights Movement.
Diane Nash helped lead some of the most successful campaigns of her time. She worked to end segregation at lunch counters in Nashville. She also helped with the Freedom Riders, who worked to end segregation on buses and trains traveling between states. Nash was a founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). She also helped start the Alabama Voting Rights Project. This work led to the Selma to Montgomery marches. Her efforts helped pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This law made sure that African Americans and other minorities could register and vote.
In July 2022, President Joe Biden gave Nash the Presidential Medal of Freedom. This is one of the highest awards a civilian can receive in the U.S.
Contents
Biography
Early Life
Diane Nash was born in 1938 in Chicago, Illinois. She grew up in a middle-class family. Her father, Leon Nash, was a veteran of World War II. Her mother, Dorothy Bolton Nash, worked as a keypunch operator. Diane spent her early years with her grandmother, Carrie Bolton. Her grandmother taught her to be confident and know her own worth.
After the war, Diane's parents divorced. Her mother remarried John Baker, who worked on railroad dining cars. He was part of a strong Black union. Diane's grandmother continued to be a big influence on her. However, Diane's sheltered upbringing meant she was not fully ready for the harsh racism outside her home.
Becoming an Activist
Nash went to Catholic schools and even thought about becoming a nun. After high school, she attended Howard University in Washington, D.C.. This was a historically black college (HBCU). After one year, she moved to Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. There, she studied English.
In Nashville, Diane first truly saw the effects of Jim Crow laws. These laws forced segregation, keeping Black and white people separate. For example, she had to use a "Colored Women" restroom at a fair. This experience made her very angry. She decided to become a full-time activist.
Her family was surprised by her choice to join the Civil Rights Movement. Her grandmother worried she was with "the wrong bunch." But Diane was actually leading nonviolent protests at her university. Her family soon understood her important role. Her mother even helped raise money for the Freedom Riders.
Leading the Nashville Sit-ins
At Fisk, Diane looked for ways to fight segregation. She joined workshops led by James Lawson. Lawson had studied Mahatma Gandhi's methods of nonviolent action in India. Diane became one of Lawson's best students.
She was calm and spoke well to authorities and the press. This made her a strong leader. In 1960, at age 22, she led the Nashville sit-ins. These protests lasted from February to May. Students would sit at segregated lunch counters and ask for service. Lawson's workshops prepared them for insults and physical harm. They learned to show love and kindness to those who harassed them.
The Nashville sit-ins were special because young college students led them. These protests spread to 69 cities across the U.S. Diane and three other students were served at a restaurant on March 17, 1960. Students kept protesting for months. They accepted arrest, following nonviolent rules.
Nash and John Lewis led protesters in refusing to pay bail. In February 1961, Nash went to jail with the "Rock Hill Nine" students. They were jailed for sitting at a whites-only lunch counter. They were fined $50. Nash told the judge, "We feel that if we pay these fines we would be supporting injustice."
Diane Nash asked Nashville's mayor, Ben West, if it was wrong to treat people differently because of their race. The mayor agreed it was wrong. Three weeks later, Nashville's lunch counters began serving Black people. Nash felt this was a very important turning point.
Joining SNCC and SCLC
In spring 1960, many students involved in sit-ins met in North Carolina. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) helped organize the meeting. But Ella Baker advised the students to stay independent. In April 1960, Nash helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). This group was independent of older organizations. Nash left school to lead its direct action efforts. SNCC became a strong youth voice in the Civil Rights Movement.
In early 1961, Nash and ten students were arrested in Rock Hill, South Carolina. They were protesting segregation. Once in jail, they refused bail. This idea of "jail, no bail" became a common tactic for activists.
Diane Nash was arrested many times for her work. She spent 30 days in a South Carolina jail in 1961. In 1962, she was four months pregnant. She faced a two-year prison sentence in Mississippi. She was accused of encouraging young people to join the Freedom Riders. Despite her pregnancy, she was ready to go to jail. She wrote an open letter, 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." She spent 10 days in jail in Jackson, Mississippi.
Nash worked with the SCLC from 1961 to 1965, led by Martin Luther King Jr.. However, Nash saw herself as King's equal, not his follower. She said, "I never considered Dr. King my leader. I always considered myself at his side." She later left the SCLC because she disagreed with its leadership structure. She also left SNCC in 1965 when it moved away from its nonviolence principles.
The Freedom Rides
In 1961, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) started the Freedom Rides. These rides challenged segregation on buses and in bus stations that traveled between states. After a bus was firebombed and riders were hurt in Alabama, CORE stopped the rides.
But Diane Nash said, "We will not stop." She called on students from Fisk and other colleges to continue the rides. The Nashville students, encouraged by Nash, decided to finish the journey. Nash believed that if the rides stopped, it would send a message that violence could stop nonviolent campaigns.
Nash took charge of the Freedom Rides. She found new riders, spoke to the media, and sought support. She coordinated the rides from Nashville. She led the Freedom Riders from Birmingham, Alabama to Jackson, Mississippi.
When the violence grew, U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy got involved. He worked to keep the rides going. Kennedy's assistant, John Seigenthaler, warned Nash that riders could be killed. Nash replied, "We know someone will be killed, but we cannot let violence overcome nonviolence." She told him that she and other students had already signed their wills.
Nash used coded messages when talking on the phone with Birmingham activist Fred Shuttlesworth. Their phone line was tapped by police. They used "roosters" for male riders and "hens" for female riders. When Nash said, "The chickens are boxed," Shuttlesworth knew the Freedom Riders were on their way.
On May 20, 1961, riders left Birmingham for Montgomery. They were promised protection, but it disappeared. A violent mob attacked them with pipes and bricks. Both white and Black riders were injured.
On May 21, 1961, Martin Luther King Jr. came to the First Baptist Church in Montgomery. Nash played a key role in getting King to speak there. More than 1,500 people were trapped inside the church as violence raged outside. The governor had to declare martial law to stop the mob. King told the crowd inside to "remain calm" and "continue to stand up for what we know is right."
In 1963, President John F. Kennedy asked Nash to join a committee to promote civil rights laws. This led to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Fighting for Voting Rights
In 1963, a church bombing in Birmingham killed four young girls. Nash and James Bevel decided to build a nonviolent movement in Alabama. Their goal was for every Black adult in Alabama to have the right to vote. Southern states had prevented Black people from voting for many years.
Nash and Bevel worked with the SCLC to organize the Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965. These protests were for voting rights in Alabama. Marchers crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge. But police and state troopers attacked them with clubs and tear gas. John Lewis had his skull fractured. These images were shown on national television, shocking the country.
Soon after, President Lyndon Johnson said it was "deadly wrong" to deny anyone the right to vote. This led to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. This law allowed the federal government to make sure people could register and vote.
In 1965, the SCLC gave its highest award, the Rosa Parks Award, to Nash and James Bevel. This was for their leadership in the Alabama Project and the Selma Voting Rights Movement.
Later Life and Recognition
For many years, male leaders received most of the credit for the Civil Rights Movement. But historians now recognize Diane Nash's huge contributions.
In 1995, historian David Halberstam called Nash "bright, focused, utterly fearless." He said she had a perfect sense of what to do at each step of a crisis.
Nash is featured in documentaries like Eyes on the Prize and A Force More Powerful. She is also in the PBS American Experience film about the Freedom Riders. Her work is also in books like The Children by David Halberstam and Diane Nash: The Fire of the Civil Rights Movement by Lisa Mullins.
She has received many awards. These include the Distinguished American Award from the John F. Kennedy Library (2003) and the LBJ Award for Leadership in Civil Rights (2004).
Nash still believes in nonviolent action to solve problems. She said, "I think the Civil Rights Movement has demonstrated how to resolve human conflicts." She hopes countries can negotiate instead of going to war.
In December 2021, Nashville named the area in front of its courthouse the Diane Nash Plaza. This is where Nash confronted the mayor about segregated lunch counters.
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On July 1, 2022, the White House announced that Nash would receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
After the Civil Rights Movement, Nash moved back to Chicago. She worked in education and real estate. She continued to fight for fair housing and against war. She still lives in Chicago near her son.
In 2013, Nash supported Barack Obama but worried about his involvement in wars. She believes that true change in America comes from its citizens, not just government officials.
In 2015, Nash did not join the re-enactment of the Selma march. She explained that former president George W. Bush was attending. Nash, who believes in peace, felt Bush stood for "violence and war."
Decades later, Nash remains committed to nonviolence. She is humble about her role. She says, "It took many thousands of people to make the changes that we made, people whose names we'll never know."
Personal Life
Diane Nash met James Bevel during the Nashville sit-ins. They later married and had two children. They divorced after seven years. Nash never remarried.
See also
