Freedom Ride Leader Diane Nash Rebuffs AG Robert Kennedy
In a meeting at the Justice Department, Freedom Ride leader Diane Nash on this day rebuffed the effort of Attorney General Robert Kennedy to get her and other young civil rights activists to shift their focus from direct action (such as sit-ins and the Freedom Ride) to voter registration.
Kennedy hinted that if they abandoned direct action in favor of voter registration certain benefits would come their way, such as grants from private foundations. A few members of Nash’s groups were tempted, but most agreed with her on the need to continue the Freedom Ride and other direct action in support of civil rights.
Diane Nash had been one of the leaders of the Nashville sit-in movement, which began on February 13, 1960 and successfully achieved the end of segregated public facilities (the first southern city to do so) on May 10, 1960.
The Freedom Ride, which began on May 4, 1961, encountered major violence in Alabama, including assaults on freedom riders and the burning of a bus in Anniston, Alabama (see May 14, 1961). In response, the original Freedom Ride leaders canceled the ride and flew to New Orleans, their original destination. Sit-in veterans in Nashville, Tennessee, believed they should not capitulate in the face of violence and, led by Nash, organized a continuation of the ride. The John F. Kennedy administration was primarily interested in preventing violence and avoiding more embarrassing news stories.
Watch a video biography of Diane Nash: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAG9kABlWaQ
Learn more about the Freedom Ride: Raymond Arsenault, Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice (2006)
Learn more about Diane Nash: http://www.blackpast.org/aah/nash-diane-judith-1938
And more about Diane Nash at the SNCC Digital Gateway here
Watch a documentary on the Freedom Ride: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66_kqSG6aHI
Visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture here