Diane Nash: A Civil Rights Movement

Diane Nash was a civil rights activist during the 60’s. She was one of the protestors during sit-ins that were arrested. She coordinated the Freedom Rides after they were temporarily stopped. She stood up to the mayor and dared him to tell her that discrimination based on color was okay. She said no to Dr. Martin Luther King. Nash is an important figure in the movement, and in history, not only because of her dedication to the cause but also as a black female student in Tennessee she made her voice known. She rose to leadership among her peers and defied anyone who told her to stop. She would not stop until her goals had been met. The segregation, discrimination, and sexism that she faced in her years as a student only fueled her fire. Diane Nash found strength and spiritual wisdom through outside and internal forces that motivated her to never give up. One of Nash’s first source of strength came from her family. Although they were a well-off family, “models of Negro achievement”, they still discussed matters of national importance that at the time they overlooked. Her stepfather told a young Nash about segregation and discrimination, stories she didn’t believe until she left Howard University for Fisk University. As a child, she also spent a large amount of time with her grandmother, Carrie Bolton. Her

Her spiritual and religious influences helped shape her and prepare her for the positions she would one day fill. Yet it is her own formation of religion and spirituality that garnered her success. although her grandmother’s words gave her the confidence to speak out against violence it was her own belief in the sinfulness of segregation that caused her to act. Her family’s ignorance of the racial problem could have stopped her from attending anything that discussed race. But her own morals told her she needed to participate in some group that retaliated or caused action. She would not let herself sit idly by. She