iversity. Her family was not familiar with the idea of working for civil rights. Diane Nash spoke of how it took her family time to come around to accept her as a key player in the Civil Rights Movement. But her mother began to use fundraising abilities to raise money for the Freedom Riders. Nash sai
Though protests would continue in Nashville and across the South, Diane Nash and three other students were first successfully served at the Post House Restaurant on March 17, 1960.Students continued the sit-ins at segregated lunch counters for months, accepting arrest in line with nonviolent princi
While participating in the Nashville sit-in, Diane Nash first met fellow protester,James Bevel, whom she would later marry. They had two children together, a son and a daughter. The couple divorced after seven years of marriage and Nash never remarried.
In August 1961, Diane Nash participated in a picket line to protest a local supermarket's refusal to hire blacks. When local white youths started egging the picket line and punching various people, police intervened. They arrested 15 people, only five of whom were the white attackers. All but one of
"We will not stop. There is only one outcome," stated Diane Nash, referring to the 1961 COREFreedom Riders. Designed to challenge state segregation of interstate buses and facilities, the project was suspended by CORE after a bus wasfirebombedand several riders were severely injured in attacks by
ing had caused tension between himself and the Freedom Riders, Nash included, due to his refusal to participate in the Rides.Diane Nash was present at the First Baptist Church that night and is credited with playing a key role in getting King to come and speak in support of the Freedom Riders. Mor
In 1965, SCLC gave its highest award, theRosa Parks Award, to Diane Nash and James Bevel for their leadership in initiating and organizing the Alabama Project and the Selma Voting Rights Movement.[3]
winning documentary film seriesEyes on the Prize(2011), the PBSAmerican Experiencedocumentary on the Freedom Riders, based on the history of the same name. Nash is also credited with her work inDavid Halberstam's bookThe Children, as well asDiane Nash: The Fire of the Civil Rights Movement.
