Diane Nash - Nashville Action

Nashville Action

After experiencing such shocking discriminatory events, Nash decided to search for a way to challenge segregation, Nash began attending non-violent civil disobedience workshops led by Rev. James Lawson. James Lawson had studied Mahatma Gandhi's techniques of nonviolent direct action and passive resistance while studying in India. By the end of her first semester at Fisk, she had become one of Lawson's most devoted disciples. Although originally a reluctant participant in non-violence, Nash emerged as a leader due to her well-spoken, composed manner when speaking to the authorities and to the press. In 1960 at age 22, she became the leader of the Nashville sit-ins, which lasted from February to May. Unlike previous movements which were guided by older adults, this movement was led and composed primarily of students and young people.

Students would sit-in at segregated lunch counters, accepting arrest in line with non-violent principles. Nash, with John Lewis, led the protesters in a policy of refusing to pay bail. In February 1961, Nash served jail time in solidarity with the "Rock Hill Nine" — which were nine students imprisoned after a lunch counter sit-in. They were all sentenced to pay a $50 fine for sitting at a whites-only lunch counter, Nash was chosen to represent her fellow activists when she told the judge, "We feel that if we pay these fines we would be contributing to and supporting the injustice and immoral practices that have been performed in the arrest and conviction of the defendants."

When Nash provocatively asked the mayor on the steps of City Hall, "Do you feel it is wrong to discriminate against a person solely on the basis of their race or color?", the mayor admitted that he did. Three weeks later, the lunch counters of Nashville were serving blacks. and which led to the desegregation of the city's lunch counters. Reflecting on this event, Nash said "I have a lot of respect for the way he responded. He didn't have to respond the way he did. He said that he felt it was wrong for citizens of Nashville to be discriminated against at the lunch counters solely on the basis of the color of their skin. That was the turning point... That day was very important."

In August 1961, Diane Nash participated in a picket line which was protesting a local supermarket's refusal to hire blacks. When local white youths started egging the picket line and punching various people in the line, police intervened. They arrested 15 people, only 5 of which were the white perpetrators. All but one of the blacks who were put in jail accepted the $5 bail and were freed. However, Diane Nash stayed. The 21-year-old activist had insisted on her arrest with the other blacks, and once in jail, refused bail.