1

Diane Nash

By WatsonZ

  • Birth

    Birth
    Born on May 15, 1938, in Chicago, Illinois, Nash grew up middle-class and raised Catholic

  • Inspiration

    Inspiration
    After transferring to Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1959, she witnessed severe racial segregation, prompting her to participate in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and nonviolent protests. Link Text

  • Making her mark

    Making her mark
    In 1960, she was designated as the student sit-in movement’s chairperson in Nashville. (https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=TJDdBwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA235&dq=Diane+Nash+(1938+%E2%80%93+)+&ots=HyxDOVvZqg&sig=I6j5CHoC4KNZVz0f6yjwQz7uzkQ#v=onepage&q=Diane%20Nash%20(1938%20%E2%80%93%20)&f=false)

  • Freedom Riders

    Freedom Riders
    In 1961, Nash coordinated the Nashville Student Movement Ride from Birmingham, Alabama, to Jackson, Mississippi after learning of the bus burning in the Alabama city of Anniston and the riot in Birmingham.

  • Sacrifice

    Sacrifice
    She eventually left college to become a full-time activist for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1961.

  • Voting Counts

    Voting Counts
    After moving to Jackson, Mississippi, in 1961, Nash headed SCLC campaigns to register people to vote and desegregate schools (http://hist314online.ferrellhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/BRYAN-black-women-activists-in-civ-rts-movement.pdf)

  • A sit for Justice

    A sit for Justice
    On February 6, 1961, she participated in a sit-in at a lunch counter in Rock Hill, South Carolina, with Ruby Doris Smith, Charles Jones and Charles Sherrod.

  • Making Moves in the White House

    Making Moves in the White House
    She was also appointed to a national committee by President John F. Kennedy that promoted passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

  • Honors

    Honors
    In 1965 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. awarded Nash and her husband SCLC’s Rosa Parks award for their contributions to civil rights.

  • More Accolades

    More Accolades
    Nash was named a recipient of the Distinguished American Award from the John F. Kennedy Library and Foundation in 2003 and the LBJ Award of Leadership in Civil Rights from the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum the following year. Additionally, she has been awarded honorary doctorates from Fisk University and the University of Notre Dame (https://www.biography.com/activist/diane-nash)