Dr. Diane Nash is an American Descendant of Freed Slaves. Her work is discussed in these well-known books:

  • "Freedom Riders 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice" by Raymond Arsenault

  • "Parting the Waters and Pillar of Fire" by Taylor Branch

  • "The Children" by David Halberstam

  • "Walking With the Wind" by Congressman John Lewis

  • "Freedom’s Daughters" by Lynne Olson

Her work is cited in many books, television and film documentaries and numerous magazine and newspaper articles.

Dr. Nash has appeared on and in:

  • The OPRAH WINFREY Show

  • The TAVIS SMILEY Show

  • The TODAY Show

  • The PBS American Experience film, FREEDOM RIDERS directed by award-winning filmmaker Stanley Nelson

  • The Spike Lee Film, FOUR LITTLE GIRLS

  • EYES ON THE PRIZE: America's Civil Rights Years - 1954 to 1965, the Public Broadcasting System series

  • A FORCE MORE POWERFUL, award-winning documentary on the use of nonviolence, globally

DIANE NASH became involved in the nonviolent movement in 1959 when she was a student at Fisk University. She was:

  • Chairperson of the student sit-in movement in the first southern city to desegregate its lunch counters (Nashville, Tennessee, 1960)

  • One of the founding students of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (1960)

  • Coordinator of the Freedom Ride (from Birmingham, Alabama to Jackson, Mississippi, 1961)

  • Jailed while pregnant with her first child and the child was expected to be born in jail (Jackson, Mississippi, 1961). She served 30 days in jail in Rock Hill, South Carolina and was arrested for her civil rights activities many times throughout the South

  • Director of the direct-action arm of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1961

  • Appointed by President John F. Kennedy to a national committee that promoted passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

  • Field staff person, organizer, strategist, race relations staff person, and workshop instructor for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), 1961-65

  • Activist in the peace movement that worked to end the Vietnam war

  • Instructor in the philosophy and strategy of non-violence as developed by Mohandas Gandhi in India

  • One of two people who conceptualized and formed SCLC’s initial strategy for the Selma Right-To-Vote movement, as well as participated in its development until its conclusion; the Selma movement was one of the major efforts that resulted in the Voting Rights Act. For this work, she and her co-strategist received SCLC's highest award for 1965, which was presented by the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Awards and Honors

  • Ms. Nash received one of six awards at the March on Washington (1963) presented to Negro Women Freedom Fighters.

  • The War Resisters’ League Peace Award for 1965 was awarded jointly to Diane Nash Bevel and James Bevel.

  • The John F. Kennedy Library presented Ms. Nash with their “Distinguished American Award” in March, 2003.

  • Ms. Nash received the LBJ Award for Leadership in Civil Rights from The Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum in March, 2004. Lynda Johnson Robb presented the
    award with Lady Bird Johnson and Luci Baines Johnson in attendance.

  • Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee, awarded Ms. Nash an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Degree in May, 2007.

  • The National Civil Rights Museum, Memphis, TN, presented Ms. Nash with their 2008 National Freedom Award on October 28, 2008. This award is presented to
    individuals who have made significant contributions in civil rights and human
    rights. Previous recipients include: Nelson Mandela, President Jimmy Carter, Rosa Parks, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Oprah Winfrey, Thurgood Marshall (posthumously awarded) President William Jefferson Clinton and Sidney Poitier.

  • North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University’s Human Rights Medal (2009) was presented to Ms. Nash.

  • The National Voting Rights Museum, Selma, Alabama, gave Ms. Nash their Living Legend Award in 2009.

  • Ms. Nash delivered the 2009 Slavery Remembrance Day Memorial Lecture in Liverpool, England; she is included on the Achievers’ Wall in the International Slavery Museum.

  • Ms. Nash is featured in MAKERS: Women Who Make America, a Public Broadcasting System program-2013.

  • Ms. Nash is featured in the CNN series, “The Sixties: The Decade That Changed the World. It aired on June 26, 2014.

  • Ms. Nash’s role in the Selma, Alabama Right-to-Vote movement is portrayed in the movie, “Selma,” produced by Oprah Winfrey and Brad Pitt-January 2015.  

  • Ms. Nash was awarded the Lincoln Medal by the Ford’s Theatre Foundation. It is given
    to individuals who exemplify the lasting legacy and mettle of character embodied by President Abraham Lincoln. Former Attorney General Eric Holder presented the award May 31, 2015.

  • President Barack Obama invited and subsequently received Ms. Nash at the White House for a conversation in the Oval Office, June 2015.

  • The University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, awarded Ms. Nash an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree, May 2016.

  • Albion University awarded Ms. Nash an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Degree, February 2016.

  • Tulane University awarded Ms. Nash an Honorary Doctor of Law Degree, May 2017.

  • Fisk University established an academic chair, The Diane Nash - Descendants of the Emancipation Chair, May 2021.

  • President Joseph Biden presented The Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is the Nation’s highest civilian honor, to Ms. Nash. July 2022.  

  • Hyde Park High School (Chicago) Class of 1956, Nash’s graduation class, dedicated a plaque in their school, enumerating Nash’s accomplishments. September 23, 2023.

  • The City of Nashville, TN named the plaza in front of the metropolitan courthouse where Nash impelled Mayor Ben West to say he thought lunch counters should be desegregated, Diane Nash Plaza. Dedication: April 20, 2024. 

Ms. Nash is a native and current resident of Chicago, Illinois. After the 1960s, she held several administrative positions in social service agencies in Chicago. She continues to be an activist in civil rights and peace issues. Ms. Nash has a daughter and a son and she is a grandmother.

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